Somebody Save Me
by swiglo3000
Summary: It's Ross and Rachel's wedding and everyone is happy. But when Richard starts abusing Monica who will save her? COMPLETED
1. New Beginnings

**AN: This won't be like my other story "Why Ross" this will be a more traditional Friends story. Also Have a Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays. **

**Summary: This is AU season 5. Ross never cheated on Rachel, they never broke up and the wedding at the end of season 4 was theirs. Monica and Richard never broke up and now he's started abusing her. Chandler and Kathy never got together. Ross and Rachel live in Ugly Naked Guy's apartment, Phoebe's is the same, the guy's are the same, and Monica and Richard live together. This will be C+M and R+R. **

**Disclaimer: I didn't get Friends for Christmas so I own nothing.**

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

The wedding had been beautiful, it had been a giant affair Chandler had been Ross's best man and Monica had been Rachel's maid of honor. They had been engaged for six months, they both wrote their own vows then they were off on their honeymoon. They would go to London, Paris, and Rome they would be gone for a three weeks. Judy had been so happy, she hadn't even made any comment to Monica on when she and Richard were going to be married. Monica and Richard had been going great they were both very in love with each other, this made Chandler just a little bit jealous, he didn't like Richard true he used to idolize him their was just something about him that made Chandler uneasy. But he kept these feelings to himself he didn't want to ruin what Monica and Richard had, so he kept his mouth shut.

Monica and Richard were returning home after the wedding, this wedding was making Monica think about what she wanted 'I love him and he loves me but is he ready to take it to the next level and marry me?' she thought, 'I'll talk to him after the wedding' she decided, not wanting to ruin her brother and her best friends special day. The rest of the day went as would be, Joey trying to sleep with the bridesmaids, Chandler striking out with every girl he talked to, and Phoebe just being Phoebe. The night went great for Monica too she and Richard danced all night; he made her feel like a queen. Chandler watched Monica and Richard with envy, he knew he should be happy for them but, he just couldn't. 'Do I want what they have, or do I want Monica?' he began to ask himself.

The rest of the night went on until it was time to go home for the night. Joey was going home with a bridesmaid, so Chandler had to go home alone, he caught a ride with Monica and Richard. The ride went in absolute silence until Chandler said "That's good about Ross and Rachel they are really happy together" "Yeah they'll do great" Richard said. They finally got home around ten, Chandler went to bed and Monica decided that she and Richard were going to have a little talk. "Well I'm beat lets go to bed" Richard said, "Hold on a minute Richard, we need to have a little talk" Monica said, Richard got worried at those words. "What about?" he asked "The future" Monica answered truthfully.

"What about it?" Richard asked, "Richard this wedding has gotten me thinking, we've been going out for a long time and I think I'm ready to have kids and get married" Monica said wondering how he would react to this. "Monica I'll marry you but I don't want anymore kids I'm sorry if you do but I just don't" Richard said to her. "Then this isn't going to work Richard, we won't work I think it's best if we break up" Monica said, "Come on Monica I've made sacrifices for you and I think it's about time you made one for me" Richard said getting angry. "Richard I've come to a point in my life where I want kids and if you can't understand that then this is over" Monica said a hint of sadness in her voice. "No, this isn't over until I say it's over!" Richard screamed, "Richard get out now this is my apartment and I say get out" Monica said trying to keep her cool.

By now Richard was furious, "No Monica we are not breaking up and that is that!" Richard screamed, Monica was getting afraid now she wished someone was here with her. "Richard I'm sorry but I just don't want to be with you anymore" she said confidently then Richard slapped her across the face so hard that she fell backward onto the floor. "We are not broken up, and you will tell no one of this" he told her going to bed. Only after he had gone into the room did Monica allow herself to cry, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her tears. 'Maybe he really does love me and he is just afraid of losing me' Monica thought, 'Yeah that's it, I just made him made as long as I don't do it again he won't hit me' she thought.

She knew she couldn't just lay here on the floor all night, so she went to put some ice on her face to hopefully prevent bruising so no one would know. 'I'm safe from Ross and Rachel I'll be fine before they are back, if I put enough makeup on Chandler, Joey, and Phoebe won't notice besides it was just this one time' she thought before she went to join Richard who was all ready asleep. While across the hall Chandler was becoming more and more convinced that he may be in love with Monica 'Even if I am in love with her, she has Richard the perfect boyfriend, I'm nothing compared to Richard, she's taken man just let her go' was what he thought to himself before falling asleep for the night. At that exact moment somewhere across the Atlantic a couple very much in love were getting ready to go and celebrate their love for the rest of their lives, unaware of what would change while they were gone.

**Please R and R **


	2. The Lies We Tell Ourselves

**AN: Not sure when this will be done, but there will be an update every day. Also to anyone who just sends in flame reviews please don't because I won't reply.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except this story.**

Chapter 2: The Lies We Tell Ourselves

Monica woke up the next morning noticing that Richard had already gone to work; she took a quick look at herself in the mirror. The bruise on her face wasn't as bad as she thought it would be, but it was still noticeable, knowing that Chandler would be over soon, she took a quick shower, got dressed and put a couple pounds of makeup on her face. Once she was done with that she went to making breakfast. Chandler woke up to find Joey in bed with a bridesmaid. It was nine so he wouldn't be up for about another hour; Chandler took his shower, and then got ready to go over to Monica's for breakfast. He couldn't stop thinking about her, every time he saw her he just felt like he did when he loved Janice. 'Come to think about it I haven't been in a real relationship since her' he thought to himself.

When he finally got dressed and broke away from his thoughts he went over to Monica's surprised to see Joey up and there. "Hey, Joe had a good time last night?" he asked not really caring but thought he should. "Yeah baby nothing beats I'm lonely at a wedding sex" he said with a smile on his face, "That's great" Chandler said, 'God, Janice was the last time I had sex' he thought feeling sorry for himself. He looked over at Monica and asked "What's on the menu today Mon?" "Just some waffles" she said. 'Richard does love me, that's why he did that last night' she thought to herself while making breakfast. A little while later Phoebe came in "Oh, waffles yummy" she said as she walked in and grabbed a plate.

They began talking about what Ross and Rachel would be doing right about now and decided that Ross must be doing Rachel and vice versa. After a couple of minutes Chandler left and went to work, 'Do I love her?' was all he thought on his way to work. A little while later Joey and Phoebe had to be on their ways, they left Monica to clean up. As Monica began to clean up she began thinking more about last night 'He does love me, he's just afraid of losing me, and it will only happen this one time' she thought to herself. She spent the rest of the day thinking about how she would apologize to Richard for making him mad and hoped that he would accept her apology.

Ross and Rachel were having a magnificent time in London; they had visited the sights and spent about half the night awake in bed pleasuring each other. "Ross do you think Monica and Richard will ever get married?" Rachel asked him wanting his view; she thought she shouldn't because of the age difference and that he may not want anymore kids. "They might as long as they are happy that's all that really matters" he said, "I agree but I'm just afraid that Monica will give up too much for him and he won't give up anything for her" she said. This made Ross think 'Maybe she's right' "Hey lets forget about Monica and Richard right now and just focus on each other" he said kissing her passionately "Who were we talking about again?" she asked sarcastically, then they went back to bed.

Chandler sat at work not really doing anything, except playing computer games. He wasn't able to take his mind off Monica, 'She looked great today' he thought then banishing those thoughts from his mind. 'She is taken, I can't have her all I have is a crush on her and that is it' he tried to tell himself. He didn't really believe it 'Even if it is real love, you can't have her she has Richard, he'll give her everything you can't' he thought to himself. He realized he had to get back to work, even if this was the most boring job in the world at least it pays the bills. 'This is why Monica would never go for me, I live a boring life and I have a boring job' he thought still trying to get Monica out of his mind but failing to get her out of there.

Monica spent all day getting ready for Richard to come home tonight; he had given her a call about and hour ago and said he would be home in about an hour. Monica was going to apologize about last night, she was out of line and she knew that now and she was going to be sure that he knew. She was putting the finishing touches on the bed when she heard a door open "Monica I'm home' Richard said, "Hello honey" Monica said kissing him, but something was different she didn't feel the same sparks she felt before but ignored it. "What's this?" he asked, "Just a little something to apologize about last night, you were right I was out of line" she said to him hugging and kissing him. "I'm sorry to, I just lost my temper, let's just forget it ever happened" Richard suggested. "Sure, it never happened" Monica said.

They spent the night eating Monica's delicious lobster dinner and then went to bed and had make up sex. After having sex Monica didn't feel like she did before, maybe a part of her still didn't trust him after last night, but she would try to forgive him she thought before falling asleep for the night. Chandler got home late, without a family he had to stay late a lot; he got home to find Joey watching Baywatch and eating pizza. "Hey Joe" he said, "Hey man, bad day?" he asked. "I've had better, I really need Yasmine right now" he said sitting down, "What's wrong?" Joey asked, "Nothing's wrong Joe I just had a bad day is all" he said wondering if Joey knew how he felt about Monica. "You just seem off, I know what it is Ross just got married and now you think you want to fall in love and get married" Joey said. Chandler was shocked this was actual wisdom coming from Joey, but he didn't feel like talking tonight after his crappy day at work so he said "Something like that Joe, we'll talk about it tomorrow, I'm really tired and need some sleep" "Sure thing" Joey said going back to Baywatch. Chandler went to bed that night hoping for a good night's sleep but all he got was a restless one while his dreams were haunted by Monica.

**Please R and R**


	3. Hiding What We Feel

**AN: Thanks to all that reviewed, and now the third chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I only own my story ideas and nothing else.**

Chapter 3: Hiding What We Feel

Chandler woke up the next morning and was surprised to find Joey already awake, "Any auditions today?" he asked trying to figure out what he was doing up so early. "No, we are going to have that talk, we talked about last night" he replied. Chandler got nervous and said "Joe, don't worry about it I've just been a little lonely lately" "Really because if you really are lonely I could set you up with Kathy, she kind of liked you" he said. 'Kathy liked me, maybe I should have told Joey how I felt about her' he thought, but then said "No Kathy and I just wouldn't work out I kind of like someone else" "Who?" Joey asked wondering who Chandler could like. "I kind of like Monica" Chandler said taking a chance.

Noticing the shocked look on Joey's face Chandler quickly said "Now before you say anything Joe, I know that Monica is with Richard and we would never work out" "What are you talking about you guys would so work out" Joey said, Chandler was shocked at this he was sure Joey wouldn't think that. "It doesn't matter Joe, she's with Richard, mister moustache, eye doctor, and James Bond like guy" he said sadly "Compared to him I'm just dirt, I hate my job, I've never been in a serious relationship, and I always say the wrong things at the wrong times, she would never go out with me" he said stopping to get some air. "You give yourself a lot less credit then you deserve" Joey said realizing that this was a sensitive subject for him "Get dressed and we'll get some breakfast" Joey said dropping the subject.

Monica woke up to once again find Richard gone to work 'That's the only problem with him he's never here when I wake up' she thought. She took a look at her face the bruise was less noticeable but it could still be seen without makeup. She got herself ready and just as she finished putting on her makeup Joey walked in. "Hey Mon what's for breakfast?" he asked casually, "Eggs and toast" she replied. "How are things going with Richard?" Joey asked trying to see if his best friend had a chance with the women he loved. When Joey asked this Monica froze, 'He couldn't know, could he?' breaking the silence Monica said "Things are going great" 'It's the truth, he wouldn't hit me again' "Why do you ask?" Monica asked wondering why he suddenly cared. "No reason" Joey replied feeling bad for Chandler knowing he may never get his chance at Monica.

Chandler came in a little while later, his eggs and toast all ready. He took a look at Monica 'God she is beautiful, even when she's cooking she still looks like a knockout, except she's wearing a lot of makeup today and she rarely wears makeup' he thought to himself. He was going to think about the makeup thing more but Phoebe walked in "So I met this guy yesterday" she said walking in. She went on to tell them about how wonderful this guy was and that they were going out tomorrow night. Chandler was kind of paying attention until he realized that he had to go to work "Well goodbye children" he said exiting Monica's apartment.

After everyone had left for the morning Monica went to cleaning up the apartment, she had to go to work soon and cook more food for more people. That was the one bad thing about cooking she knew her makeup would run, but luckily she had the lunch shift today and it wouldn't be as bad. As she got ready for work she began to think about Richard 'He really does love me doesn't he, I mean he moved out of his place to be with me so he must love me' she thought to herself. Work was hell for her today there was one person who's steak was first done too rare, then too done, and then he demanding a free meal and when she didn't give it to him he just left. It was the end of her shift and then somebody came in to complement the chef. It was Richard "Hey Monica, how's your day going?" he asked her. "Fine except this one guy who complained" she said to him, "I know who your talking about, he's a friend of mine and told me about" he said, "Why couldn't you just give him a free meal?" he asked.

Monica was shocked at this but replied "The meal was fine your friend was just being difficult" she told him "Monica it was one meal it was the least you owed him after ruining his lunch" Richard said getting angry. "It doesn't matter Richard, if he had been given the wrong order or I just cooked it so it was uneatable I would but there was nothing wrong with that meal" she said "Listen I have to go now but we will talk about this later!" he screamed leaving the restaurant. 'I've made him mad again; I wonder what he's going to do tonight?' she asked herself while cleaning up and getting ready to go home.

Chandler had to stay late at work again, even though he had put in more hours than anybody else all year he still had to stay late. It seemed unfair to him but everybody else in the office had a family and he didn't so he really had no choice. His thoughts once again drifted to Monica 'Why does this have to happen to me, I love her but she won't love me, but God is she beautiful' he thought. 'But what was with all the makeup, she's a cook and she sweats a lot so wouldn't the makeup run, she would know that' he thought. "I'm thinking too much into the makeup thing" he said to himself as he left work.

Monica was just arriving home wondering if Richard would be there, she knew he didn't have any more appointments for the day and was dreading seeing him. She walked in and was relieved to find that he wasn't home yet. 'God is this what I've become, afraid to go home because I make my boyfriend mad' she thought to herself. Then all of a sudden the door began to open, she closed her eyes hoping that it wasn't Richard just yet.

**Please R and R**


	4. Why Me?

**AN: Some of you may have noticed I changed the summery, if your wondering why I did it, it was to try and bring in more interest.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own the show**

Chapter 4: Why Me?

Monica held her breath and closed her eyes as the door opened "Honey I'm home" a voice said. Monica opened her eyes to see Richard standing in front of her "Hi, listen I'm sorry about this afternoon your right I should have given your friend a free meal" Monica said waiting for his reaction. "I was out of line, you don't tell me how to do my job and I shouldn't tell you how to do yours" Richard said in a loving voice. This calmed Monica down "Good, so what do you want for dinner?" she asked, "How about spaghetti?" Richard asked. "That sounds great I'll get it started" Monica said cheerfully, after a while Richard was in the shower and Chandler came in. "Hey Mon" he said, "Hey Chandler" she replied, "Where's Richard?" he asked, "He's in the shower" she told him. "Well I'll come over later if you two were planning on having dinner together" he said.

"Don't worry about I would like to have someone to talk to while I cook" Monica said to him smiling. 'That smile just makes my heart melt' he thought to himself, "So where's Joey tonight?" she asked even though she already knew the answer. "He's out with some girl I don't even ask who any more until he has a third date with her" he answered her, they spent the next couple of minutes talking before Richard came out of the shower and went to the room to get dressed. "Since Richard's coming out of the shower I'll go" he said "See you later" she replied. Richard came out a little while later to find dinner on the table "What was he doing here?" he asked with a hint of spite in his voice. "He was just over here to keep me company" she said, "I don't want him over her with you alone ever again" he told her, his face turning a little bit red.

"Richard what the hell are you talking about?" she asked confused about what he meant. "You know what I mean" he said, "I hate the fact that he is here when I'm not" he said getting angrier. "You are insane, you can't tell me who I can see and not see!" Monica screamed, wondering who this man was and what he had done with her loving Richard. "Yes I can you are my girlfriend and I don't want you around him" he said looking mad, "Why should I, you don't want kids and I'm making that sacrifice for you so I'm not going to cut Chandler out of my life for you" she said feeling confident. Then all of a sudden in a fit of anger Richard slapped Monica as hard as he could, he slapped her so hard she fell to the ground. She couldn't believe it, he had done it again, and then she felt a swift kick to her stomach.

"You will not be alone with a room with him again or else it will be worse!" he screamed at her and then with one last kick to the ribs he left the apartment. She started crying again, 'Why is he doing this to me?' she asked herself, she was worried that he would come back so she started cleaning up the nice dinner she had made. 'The worst part is that I can never tell anyone, I have to stay away from one of my best friends now because of Richard' she thought. She went to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror, she had a red mark on her face that was becoming a bruise, and she took some Advil and then went to bed. She held her tears in until she was in her room. As soon as she was in there she cried herself to sleep thinking to herself that she could never make Richard mad or be with Chandler by herself ever again.

Chandler had been watching Baywatch when he thought he heard some one screaming, he chose to ignore it then he heard a door slam he was about to get up but then he thought 'It's probably nothing' and he waited for another noise when he heard nothing more he went back to his thoughts. 'I am in love with Monica' he thought, 'it's the only way to describe this feeling, I haven't felt like this since before I was nine' he got up to grab something to drink. 'The worst part is that I can't tell her, she and Richard are going great, they are going to get married and I will die alone' at this thought he stopped thinking about Monica and went back to watching sexy girls in bathing suits or Baywatch as it is commonly known.

Ross and Rachel were now in Paris having the time of their lives in the city of love. They had seen all the sights today and now were back in the hotel. "What do you think everyone in New York is doing right now?" Rachel asked "I'm guessing they are still at work right now" Ross responded to her then turning to kiss her. "Part of me loves being her but the other part can't wait to see them again" she said pretending to ignore Ross. "You know what, how about we stop talking about our friends and start having a little more fun" Ross said hinting about going to bed. "Ross we don't have to have sex every night" Rachel said laughing inside. "Are you serious?" he asked not really sure if she was telling the truth or not, then came a laugh "Of course I'm kidding, it's our honeymoon and the sex is fantastic, along with the fact that I love you so much" she said grabbing his hand leading him to bed for the night.

**Please R and R, you don't have to I just really like it.**


	5. How Can I Live Like This?

**AN: Thanks to all that reviewed, I may post another chapter today just because of the site maintenance. One last thing I forgot to put in the summary, Phoebe had already given birth to the triplets. **

**Disclaimer: I am making no money off this story so don't sue me.**

Chapter 5: How Can I Live Like This?

Monica woke up the next morning to find that Richard was still sleeping next to her. She couldn't look at him anymore; it made her sick to even think of him. 'Why did he do this?' she thought to herself. She looked at the time and saw that everyone would be over soon and she needed to get ready. Her ribs, stomach, and face still hurt from last nights beating. She took a look at herself, her face looked terrible, 'I am going to have to put on about a ton of makeup, and take the day off of work' she thought. Her ribs and stomach looked worse, 'What if I have internal bleeding?' she thought "I should go to the hospital" she said to herself before her mind said 'You can't they would ask questions and then Richard might kill you' and at that thought she went to get ready to make breakfast.

Chandler woke up the next morning still in the same spot he was last night, he quickly looked around and noticed that he was alone; he looked into Joey's room. He saw that Joey's bed hadn't been slept in all night so he assumed he stayed at his dates place. He got showered and dressed, and then he went over to Monica's. Phoebe was already there when he arrived. "Hey Phoebe, how's it going?" he asked, "It's going great I'm going to Frank, Alice, and the triplets today" she replied. Chandler smiled at the thought of a baby girl with his name, he then looked down at the breakfast Monica made today it was pancakes. "So Mon is Richard still here?" Phoebe asked as they began to eat, Monica winced at Richard's name, but then answered "He's still sleep" "Hey Mon did you and Richard have a fight last night?" Chandler asked out of nowhere. Monica began and get nervous as she said "No why?" Chandler noticed her nervousness, "No reason, I just thought I heard some people fighting, must have been someone else" Chandler said, Monica relaxed then.

After a while both Phoebe and Chandler left for the day and Monica had a couple minutes of peace before Richard woke up. "Hey Monica how are you doing?" he asked grabbing a plate, 'How can he act like nothing happened?' Monica thought to herself but answered "I'm doing great" "About last night Monica it was an accident, I just had a bad day and I'm really sorry" he said in a tone that hinted he was sure that she would accept his apology. Even though it made Monica sick to say it she still said "Don't worry about it" in a quiet tone. They ate in silence before Richard went off to work for the day. After he left Monica began to cry, 'I love him so much even if he does hit me, and because of that I can never leave him' she thought to herself, and at that thought she began to cry even harder.

Chandler had gotten to work early today something he never really did, 'Maybe I should quit, if just shake up my life a little bit and do something more with my life' he thought. 'But I could never; it's too late to start a new career and Joey could never pay the rent on his own' a knock on his door broke him from his thoughts. "Come in" he said, Chandler's boss Doug opened the door, "Bing I have good news for you I've decided to transfer to Chicago and the big wigs want me to pick a replacement for me and I want you to have my job" Doug said. Chandler couldn't believe it "Can I stay in New York?" was the first thing he asked, because if he couldn't stay here he wouldn't take it. "Of course you can, you will also get a raise and work less, so do you want it?" Doug asked "Yes I'll take it" Chandler said, "Good now go home for the day you start my old job next week" Doug said, then he walked out. Chandler was ready to do his victory dance but held it in 'Maybe my life is getting better' he thought as he went home for the day.

Monica was home alone with no one to talk to today and it was driving her crazy, she wanted to talk to someone but knew Chandler was at work, Phoebe was visiting her family, and Joey was at an audition. All of a sudden Chandler walked into the apartment "Chandler what are you doing, shouldn't you be at work?" she asked confused. "Monica I'm glad your home I had to tell someone, I got my boss's old job today and he told me to take the rest of the day off" he said excitedly. "A promotion, Chandler that's great" she said giving him a hug hoping that Richard wouldn't come home yet. "I'm taking all of us Richard included out to dinner tomorrow night to celebrate, see you later I have to tell the chick and the duck" he said walking out of her apartment. Monica was happy for Chandler after years of bad luck he was finally getting what he deserved. 'Why can't I have a loving caring guy like Chandler?' Monica thought before she started to clean the apartment.

Chandler was back in his apartment, their was something wrong with Monica he thought but he just couldn't tell what. He couldn't really describe it she just seemed off, she didn't have the same glint in her eyes. After about an hour of watching daytime T.V. Joey walked in. "Chandler what are you doing home, did you get fired?" Joey asked confused why his best friend was at home in the middle of the day. "No Joe I didn't get fired, I got promoted and I got the rest of the day off, and don't make any plans for tomorrow we are going out to celebrate" Chandler said smiling. "That's fantastic" Joey said, "Yep, fewer hours and higher pay, but enough about me how'd the audition go?" Chandler asked, "Not sure yet Estelle is going to give me a call tomorrow" Joey replied sitting down next to him. "What do you think Ross and Rachel are doing now?" Joey asked Chandler "Well knowing Ross they are probably at some boring museum" Chandler said.

Mean while at the Louvre in Paris, Ross and Rachel were looking at the Mona Lisa, "I just don't see it Ross her eyes do not follow you around" Rachel said. "Yes they do your just not looking at it right" Ross told her, "Whatever come on lets go we've been here for three hours I want to go shopping" Rachel whined. "Fine let's go shopping" Ross said, "Good" Rachel said. They left the Louvre and went shopping for the next four hours before going back to the hotel room to get ready to go to Rome in the morning.

**Please R and R, it tells me how I'm doing. **


	6. Something’s Wrong

**AN: Nothing Earth shattering on this end. Except a small revision has been made Ross and Rachel are also going to Greece. So chapter one has been updated accordingly. Sorry for the goof.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Chapter 6: Something's Wrong

Monica had just finished cleaning when Richard walked in, "I went to the restaurant today and you weren't there, why weren't you there?" Richard asked looking angry. "I didn't feel well today" Monica said in a small voice wondering what he would do, Richard started walking closer to her and she began to back away slowly. "Really, well fine, are you feeling better now?" he asked, "Yes I am, and I will be able to go into work tomorrow" said a relieved Monica. "Oh by the way, we are going out to dinner tomorrow" Monica said "Why?" Richard asked looking in the cabinets for something to eat. "Chandler got promoted today and we're going out to celebrate" Monica said smiling, Richard looked over at her quickly "Chandler was over here today?" he asked.

A wave of fear came over Monica as she said "No he just called from work" very quickly, too quickly for Richard's tastes. "He was over here today wasn't he?" he said accusingly "No he wasn't Richard please just let it be" Monica begged closing her eyes waiting to be hit across the face, but it never came. Instead the punch came to her stomach, she felt the wind knocked out of her and then felt a couple of kicks to her back and ribs. "He was here and don't try to lie to me" he said in a low tone not wanting Joey or Chandler to come over, "You make me do this to you Monica I don't like doing this to you but you give me no choice" he said giving her one last swift kick in the back, then Monica blacked out.

Monica woke up the next morning on the floor; she wondered she was doing there before the events of last night played in her head. She looked at the time hoping that no one would be over yet, she looked and saw they would be over in half an hour 'I should say I'm sick, but I can't then Chandler would delay the dinner and I don't want him to do that' she thought to herself. She dragged herself off of the floor and went to the bedroom and saw Richard was gone; she then went to the bathroom to get a good look at herself in the mirror. Her face wasn't too bad it still had some bruising but it had gone down to the level of only wearing a little bit of makeup, she lifted up her shirt and gasped when she saw how many bruises were all over her body. 'I should tell someone but I can't, I wish Rachel was here I could talk to her' she thought, 'But if I leave Richard I'll die alone and my parents will never believe that one of my dad's friends would to this' she started crying now but stopped because she knew she had to go and make breakfast.

Chandler woke up the next morning feeling the best he had in a long time, 'I have a great new job' he thought to himself. He actually wanted to get to work today he took one of the quickest showers he had ever taken and went over to Monica's. Phoebe was already there when he got there, "So Phoebe how were Frank, Alice, and the kids?" he asked, "They are great, little Chandler is so cute" she said. "And I'm not?" he said sarcastically, they all ignored him, "By the way Phoebe, don't make any plans I just got promoted and we are going out to dinner tonight" Chandler said. "You got promoted" Phoebe said shocked, "Wow that's great, where are we going?" she asked "Just some place downtown" Chandler answered.

Monica had tried her best to avoid looking or talking to Chandler, she was afraid Richard would find out and her body ached all over she would have just stayed home but after finding out Richard went to the restaurant yesterday she was worried that he would check up on her at work everyday now. Chandler took a look over at Monica just then he noticed that she wasn't wearing as much makeup as she had been, but there was something else strange. He couldn't tell what, she looked like she was having trouble just making breakfast, every time she moved she winced in pain, and she hadn't even looked or said anything to him since he walked in. Something here was not right "Hey Mon is everything o.k.?" he asked trying to figure out what was wrong. "Nothing is wrong Chandler" she said in the most convincing tone she could come up with. Chandler took note of this and would have pushed her further but he saw she was nervous and he had to get to work. 'I'll talk to her tomorrow when we're alone' Chandler thought before saying good bye, and that he would see them at the restaurant tonight, then leaving for work.

The flight to Rome had been a good flight overall, Ross and Rachel were in first class and they both slept most of the way there. They were spending a week in Rome before finishing off the honeymoon in Greece. When they landed they got their luggage and headed off to the hotel. Rome was just as beautiful as Rachel imagined she never thought she would actually be able to go to Rome. After about an hour they arrived at the hotel, it was built for especially for honeymooners, each room had a hot tub in it, usually they never would have spent this much money on a hotel but Ross couldn't help it. He felt the most beautiful women in the world only deserved the best. They got to the room and were blown away not only was there a hot tub, but their was also champagne on ice ready for them, a giant bed shaped like a heart, a huge T.V. and sound system, along with free DSL. After taking the room in Rachel kissed Ross and said "Thank you for treating me like a queen" and he replied "You are" they spent the next five minutes kissing passionately before going to bed.

**Please R and R**


	7. Dinner

**AN: Second new chapter today because of the update.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Friends**

Chapter 7: Dinner

Chandler's day had been great, he didn't even do that much work because he was busy moving all of his things to his new office. Doug had made a formal announcement saying next week Chandler would have his job. After all the formalities had been finished Chandler's mind went back to Monica 'She has been off ever since Ross and Rachel's wedding' he thought. 'Anytime I talk to her she seems nervous, and she is wearing a lot of makeup which is unusual for her' he thought as he began unpacking boxes in his new office. 'I wonder if it has anything to do with Richard, she could be fighting with him that would explain the noises I heard the other night' he thought, before getting back to moving boxes.

Monica was nervous about tonight she knew that Richard would be home soon, she just wasn't sure what he would do before they left. She was also nervous about facing Chandler he had noticed something was wrong earlier and she was afraid he might say something again. She started to get ready to go when Richard walked in, "Why are you all dressed up?" he asked. "Because we have to go to dinner with Chandler and everyone tonight" she said in a very small voice wondering how he would react, "Why are we going out to dinner with HIM?" he asked, "Because he just got a promotion and we are going to celebrate" she said. "Fine as long as you are not alone with HIM" Richard said, going to get dressed. While he was getting dressed Monica began to wonder why Richard was like this and what he had against Chandler but couldn't find any answer. Richard came out and said "Let's go" and they went off to the restaurant.

Chandler got to the restaurant right as Phoebe and Joey got there "Where's Mon and Richard?" he asked, "Not sure" Joey said. They all sat down and Joey began talking about this new movie part he turned down "Like the re-make of King Kong will really be good" Joey said, Chandler and Phoebe nodded in agreement "That why would they make a movie about a monkey in New York anyway" Phoebe said. A little while later Monica and Richard arrived, Monica looked fantastic wearing a red dress and Richard looked like James Bond in his suit. "Sorry we're late" Richard said, "So Chandler what are you being promoted to?" he asked, "Something pretty big I get my old bosses job and I have to put less numbers into the computer" he explained boring Joey and Phoebe to death. Feeling bold Monica said "That's great Chandler" this got her a small look from Richard that did not go unnoticed by Chandler. 'Something is definitely up' he thought to himself, the waiter came and Chandler ordered the Roast Duck, Joey ordered a Steak and Lobster combo since Chandler was paying, Phoebe ordered the vegetarian platter, Monica got a Seafood Pasta, and Richard got a Strip Steak.

The rest of the dinner went fairly well Monica still didn't say much but she still said more than before, now Joey and Phoebe began to notice something is wrong "Hey Monica is everything alright, you've barely said a word" Joey said. This broke Monica from her trance and she said "Yeah everything is fine Joe, I just haven't been feeling well lately" hoping he would believe it. "Well hope you feel better" Joey said not quite believing it but thought it was acceptable, the bill came and Chandler paid, they all went home for the night. Joey, Chandler, Richard, and Monica all went home together while Phoebe went to hers. The ride back to the apartment was silent, everything that had to be said had been said at dinner and they were all tired. When they got back to the apartment Chandler and Joey went straight to bed but not before Chandler made the mental note to talk to Monica tomorrow. Monica hoped that Chandler or Joey might stay over to talk to her, but she wasn't that lucky, as soon as they walked in the door Richard said to her "Stay away from Chandler but start acting normal around everyone else" then he grabbed her, hard enough so she couldn't get away, but not so hard as to leave a bruise. He then let go and went to bed for the night, 'Why won't he stop?' was all Monica could think as she laid on the couch crying her self to sleep.

Ross and Rachel were going all over Rome today so far they had only been shopping though. "Rach I do have one question, how are we going to get all of this stuff back home?" Ross asked, "Simple we buy more suitcases" Rachel said while trying on more clothes. "You know Rach last time I checked most people came here to see the sights" Ross said, "Well I'm not most people" Rachel said quickly, "Don't worry we're here for a week I'm only going to shop today and the rest of the week we can spend doing whatever" Rachel said. "Fine I really don't care as long as we go see the sights sometime this week, but do you know what the best part of being here is?" he asked, "Let me guess being here with me" she said, "How'd you know" Ross said. "Simple Ross Geller your wife can read you like a book" Rachel said, moving over to him kissing him "Now I need some money to buy this" she said seeing her moment. "Fine just don't do this to me every week" Ross said handing over some money, "I love you so much" Rachel said, "I love you to Rachel" Ross said. The rest of the day was spent shopping around various shops in Rome, before Ross and Rachel went back to the hotel, had a romantic dinner, and fell asleep in each others arms.

**Please R and R**


	8. A Long Needed Talk

**AN: I can not stress this enough PLEASE REVIEW, they make me feel better. Also no Ross and Rachel in this chapter will be in the next.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Friends**

Chapter 8: A Long Needed Talk

The next week went on much like the last, except that Chandler was getting used to his new job, and Monica was avoiding Chandler. This did not go unnoticed by everyone; Joey had even confronted Monica about this but was met by a wall of resistance. Phoebe had tried some sort of mind trick to get her to say something but got nothing out of it. Meanwhile Richard had gotten worse, one night Monica came home late from work so dinner was late. This did not go over well with Richard, "Richard I've had a long day please just let me cook in peace" she said, Monica still had some strength left in her, enough that she would still put up a fight with him occasionally but he always over powered her. "No Monica if dinner is not ready by the time I get home this is what will happen" he threw her to the ground careful not to bruise her face and gave her a swift kick in the stomach, he would still kick her in the ribs every once in a while but he mainly worked stomach and back.

He was always quiet about it to with Chandler and Joey across the hall he didn't want anyone to find out about what he did to Monica. Monica had nearly hit rock bottom 'How long will it be until he rapes me?' she often asked herself, wondering when this would end, she always came to the same conclusion it would end when she told someone or if she died, and since she would never tell anyone she knew this would end with her death. She often cried now, she never would before because she saw it as a sign of weakness, but she was weak Richard told her so and she couldn't stop him so she was weak. She wanted so badly to tell someone but she couldn't Richard had threatened to kill her one time, _"If you ever tell anyone about this I will kill you, you can't hide from me" Richard said hitting her back with his belt._ The memory of that played in her mind so much now, she would always wince in pain and she had gone through a whole bottle of Advil this week, "No one will ever save me" Monica said to herself.

Chandler was worried about Monica she would avoid him, she would wince in pain, and he could swear he heard crying coming from that apartment along with a scream sometimes. After looking at all of this information he realized something that was right in front of him the entire time, Richard was abusing Monica, when he thought that he couldn't believe that Richard was abusing her. But looking at the information again it all made sense, 'What should I do should I confront her alone, or with Joey and Phoebe, I wish Ross and Rach were here they'd know what to do' he thought. After thinking about it he decided to confront her alone at first and then if she still denied it he would get Joey and Phoebe for help, and with that he went back to his work not really paying attention to it, his mind worrying too much about Monica.

Monica had just returned from work today her entire body hurt, too much to cook dinner so she ordered a pizza hoping that Richard would be o.k. with it. She went to the bathroom to get cleaned up, she heard the door open fear started to overcome her, Richard couldn't be home already could he, she nervously went to see who it was. When she saw it was Chandler her knees started to buckle if Richard came home to see Chandler here he would politely send him away and hurt her, she had to get rid of him. "Chandler what are you doing over here?" she asked even though she already knew the answer, "Well you have been avoiding me for the last week and I just wanted to know why?" he asked, hoping she would trust him enough to tell him what was wrong. "I've just been really busy" Monica said with no hint of truth in her voice, "Come on Monica give me some credit something is bothering you so please tell me what it is" he said in a soft trusting tone. "Nothing is now please leave" she said getting desperate Richard would be home soon and she would pay for it later if he walked in to find them alone. Chandler was getting frustrated she wasn't saying anything and when Richard came back he knew he wouldn't get anything out her so he took a chance and said "Lift up your shirt and please let me see your back" he looked at her shocked expression hoping she would do it.

Monica's jaw dropped when he said that 'He knows' she thought she couldn't believe that he really knew. "Why do you want me to do that?" she asked sounding offended with a small part of her hoping that he would push her a little bit more. "Mon please give me some credit, aside from Rachel I'm your best friend and I've known you for years please tell me is Richard abusing you?" he asked wanting the truth, it was at this point looking at her helpless with pain evident in her eyes that he just wanted to hold her and never let go of her. 'What do I tell him' she asked herself, she recovered "Chandler are you really that jealous of Richard now please leave Richard will be home soon" she said a angrily Chandler go the message and left 'I'll tell Phoebe and Joey tomorrow with all of us around she'll have to come clean' he thought, he went home and began to cry just over the thought of Monica hurting like she is right now, and it was at that point that Chandler realized that he was indeed in love with Monica.

**Please Review **


	9. Operation Save Monica

**AN: This storyshould be done by the fourth. Also please review.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Chapter 9: Operation Save Monica

Last night Chandler called Phoebe and told her to be at his place at seven, he said it was something important that they needed to talk about; she said she would be there. It was six fifty-five now and Chandler was going to wake up Joey, "Hey Joe wake up we really need to talk about something" he said, he started to shake him, "What?" Joey moaned not used to being up this early. "Come on Joe Phoebe is coming over and it's important" Chandler said, "Fine I'm up, I'm up, now what do we have to talk about?" Joey asked, "I'll tell you when Phoebe gets here" Chandler said, a couple minutes later Phoebe walked in "I'm here, now what do we have to talk about and where is Monica?" she asked.

"This is about Monica, you guys know how she's been acting strange ever since Ross and Rachel's wedding?" he asked, both nodded their heads; they had noticed something was up "Is she pregnant?" Phoebe asked, "No she's not pregnant" Chandler answered. He stopped himself for a second taking a deep breath knowing he would need it to get out what he had to say, "I've noticed that she has been weird around me lately, along with a bit of fear in her eyes, and she has been wincing as if in pain lately" he said, he stopped to once again collect himself, "After looking at all of this together I've come to the conclusion that Richard is abusing Monica" he said looking at the shocked faces of his friends. "Are you sure?" Phoebe asked not really sure if she believed it, "I'm pretty sure I talked to her last night, she was defensive about it, and this would explain her sudden change in behavior, when was the last time you guys saw and actual smile on her face?" he asked. Both Joey and Phoebe thought about it and they both agreed they hadn't seen her smile in a long while.

"What are we going to do now?" Phoebe asked, "I say we all go and talk to her, she wouldn't admit anything last night but maybe if we all confront her she'll come to us for help" Chandler suggested. "How about I just kill Richard" Joey said more as a statement than a question, "Joe I know you're angry, I'm angry to, but that won't help Monica" Chandler said trying to get Joey to calm down. "She still loves him, hurting him will push her further away from us now let's just go over there and try to get her to see our view" Chandler said, "How can she still love him?" Joey asked, "I think because she's been with him so long she thinks he doesn't mean it" Phoebe said, "You're probably right Phoebe, and that is not the Monica we know, the Monica we know wouldn't let him do this to her, now let's go over there and try to get Monica safe and happy again" Chandler said passionately. "How long have you loved her?" Phoebe asked out of nowhere. "What do you mean?" Chandler asked nervously, "How long have you loved her, only someone that loves Monica in that way would say something like that so passionately" Phoebe said, "I've loved her forever, but only really since the wedding" Chandler said, "Good, now let's go talk to Monica" Phoebe said, and with that they left the room.

Last night had been hell for Monica, sure the pizza had got there before Richard did, but that wasn't good enough for him, he said he wanted real food and knocked her over and kicked her in the back repeatedly. She didn't even get to eat, because Richard took a couple slices and threw the rest out, he then told her to go to bed and he would be there later, this made Monica wonder what he meant by that, but obeyed. She was overcome with fear and pain wondering if tonight would be the night he crossed the line, he came in a little later he smelled of alcohol, she pretended that she was sleeping in some hope that he would leave her alone. He didn't he began to climb on top of her "Richard please not tonight" she begged trying to get through to him, that's when he began to rib her clothes off, she was paralyzed with fear. 'Is he really going to do this?' she thought, someone up there must have been watching Monica because the next thing she knew Richard had passed out, she counted her blessings and went to sleep on the couch for the night.

Ross and Rachel had spent a fantastic week in Rome, they had seen the sights, ate the food, and made sure that the room was put to good use. "This has been the best honeymoon ever" Rachel said, "We still have a week left to go" Ross reminded her, "I just wish we could have brought everyone with use" Rachel said. "Please with all of them around we would never have any time to ourselves, between Chandler's comments and Monica wanting putting us on a schedule" Ross said, "You make a very good point, I wonder what they are doing right now?" Rachel asked. "Well I did get an e-mail from Chandler the other day" Ross said, "And?" Rachel questioned, "He got promoted, and everyone else is fine" Ross told a shocked Rachel. "He actually got a promotion; didn't he once try to get fired from work?" she asked and before Ross could answer Rachel said "Well good for him, now let's get off the subject of our friends to more important things" she said "Like what?" Ross asked knowing where she was going with this. "Like this" she said kissing him. Breaking away from the kiss Ross said "We have to get packed" "Do we really?" asked Rachel "Well I guess I can take you around the world all over again" Ross said, "Sounds great" Rachel said taking Ross into the bedroom.

**Please Review**


	10. Please Listen

**AN: Nothing new except that I would like some more reviews**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Friends**

Chapter 10: Please Listen

Monica was still asleep when Chandler, Phoebe, and Joey walked into her apartment, Chandler checked Monica's room quickly and noted that Richard was gone and Monica was sleeping on the couch 'Why the hell does Richard leave this early anyway, and why is Monica sleeping on the couch?' he asked himself before turning his attention to Monica. She looked so beautiful sleeping; he looked at her for the next couple of minutes before Phoebe said "Should we wake her up?" "No, let's just stay here and wait for her to wakeup" Chandler said, after about five minutes of silence Monica began to wakeup. 'Why am I on the couch?' Monica asked herself before that events of last night played in her head, she was shaken but then checked the time, 'Shoot, everyone will be here soon' she thought as she got up off the couch. When she got up off the couch she was surprised to see everyone already over here, she looked at Chandler and wondered if he told them. "What are you guys doing here?" she asked, she felt weak but was still standing "Monica I think you know why we're here" Chandler said looking her right in the eye.

"I really don't" Monica said feigning ignorance, "Mon, Chandler told us that Richard is hurting you is that true?" Joey asked, looking down at the ground Monica responded "No he's not" she said it so quietly they barely heard her. "Mon please tell us the truth" Phoebe said, suddenly Monica got angry "I am telling you the truth Richard would never do that he loves me" Monica said, this took everyone by surprise Chandler had said that Monica still loves Richard they just never thought she loved him this much. "Mon please we want to help you" Chandler said trying to get her to break, "He's not now leave" Monica said feeling kind of bad for yelling at her friends but they would never understand. "Fine but just show us you stomach and back or we won't leave" Phoebe said trying to trap her, Monica paled when Phoebe said this, she knew they would find out now 'Maybe the bruises are gone' she thought. Realizing she was trapped she turned around and lifted up her shirt.

Chandler, Phoebe, and Joey gasped at what they saw, Monica took this as a bad sign, they couldn't believe what they saw they expected a couple of bruises what they saw was much worse. Welt's, bruises, and red marks covered her entire back, 'How can she even stand this?' was what they all thought, and she looked thinner, the Monica they had known had always been thin but now they could see her ribs. It was just then they all realized that Monica hadn't been dressing as she normally would and now they saw why. Monica was worried now they hadn't said anything for a while now, she let her shirt come back down and looked at them, Joey looked furious, Phoebe looked shocked, and Chandler looked like he would cry. That shocked Monica, Chandler never cried and then she felt guilty, she had made him cry and that made her feel horrible. "Someone say something, please" was all that Monica could say.

"I'll kill him" both Chandler and Joey said at the same time, this shocked Monica a little bit she expected this from Joey but Chandler, that just wasn't him. She looked at Chandler, and he had a mix of emotions on his face, he looked angry and sad for Monica at the same time. "Guys please don't kill him or tell anyone" Monica said weakly, "What!" they screamed "Monica he has to be stopped" Phoebe said, this reminded her of stuff she saw on the streets and she knew that Monica had to get away from Richard or this would end bad, maybe not for her, but it could for some other girl. "I can't he'll kill me or worse" she said remembering last night, "Mon we won't go to police yet just please tell us what he's done to you" Chandler said, catching everyone by surprised. Phoebe caught his drift, 'If we keep pushing Monica she'll never go, but if she tells us what he's done she might reconsider' she thought "Yeah Mon, please tell us what he's done to you" she said, she really didn't want to know but this would be the only way they could help her.

Monica was cautious but still told them she took a deep breath and began to talk "Well on the night of the wedding I said I wanted kids he said he didn't and then he hit me" she said. They told her to continue and she did, "He apologized and a few days later he did it again but this time he didn't hit my face" she said. "Then he told me that I couldn't be alone with Chandler, I guess he thought I was cheating on him" Chandler felt guilty because he had been over here so much, but his mind quickly reminded him this is all Richard and none of you. "Ever since the dinner he's gotten worse, he would make me cook for him, I couldn't eat sometimes, he would beat me for minor things, he would beat me with his belt, and then last night he tried to r-r-rape me" she said looking down at the ground. They were shocked at that last statement, "He didn't, did he?" Phoebe asked then tensing up waiting for an answer, "No he fell asleep" she said, "That's why I was on the couch last night" she told them. A wave of relief fell through all of them Monica actually felt a little better, telling them what had happened was making her reconsider going to the police. "So Mon what do you want to do now?" Chandler asked wondering what she would do, "I am going to break up with him and I might go to the police" she said. That wasn't good enough for Chandler he wanted Richard to pay for what he had done to her, but it was still something and as long as Monica was happy then he felt better.

**Please Review**


	11. Richard

**AN: Bad news for everyone school has started once again, so I will only update 2-4 times a week and I have no idea how much longer this story will be. Also thanks to all that reviewed**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Friends I wish I did but I still don't**

Chapter 11: Richard

Richard Burke wasn't afraid of many things, but one thing scared him more than anything else and that was losing Monica. He couldn't let her break up with him like she wanted to, that would be failure, and that was unacceptable. He really did want to marry her, but he didn't really love her. He saw her as his trophy wife, someone new that he could show off, and if he lost her he knew he would be a laughing stock. The first time he hit her he hated himself, but then after he did it a couple more times he saw it as a controlling method to be sure that she would never leave him. He really didn't hate Chandler it was just that he didn't trust him around Monica, he really didn't think they would sleep together he was just worried that she would say something. This is what he thought as he went back to the apartment, he had forgotten his wallet.

He walked into the apartment and the first thing he noticed was that everyone was over and Monica wasn't making breakfast. "Richard I thought you were at work" Monica said wondering what he was doing there, "I just forgot my wallet" Richard said a little bit confused, he picked up his wallet. He took a look over at Chandler and Joey they were trying to act normal and if he had taken more time to look he would have seen hate and anger in their eyes. It took Chandler and Joey all the force they had not to attack Richard, but they knew that if they attacked him it wouldn't help anything. Richard was afraid now, 'What if she told them?' he thought "See you tonight Monica, love you" he said leaving quickly. 'I'll have to talk to her tonight when were alone' he thought to himself.

"So Monica what are you going to do?" Chandler asked, Monica looked at him "I really don't know" she said it was the truth she had no idea what to do about this. "I'd go to the police but the problem is that most of my bruises have healed, sure my back looks bad I don't think that's enough to get a conviction" she said, "I have an idea how about we do this, we hide a camera on the TV and catch Richard in the act" Joey suggested. "Joe we could to that but Monica would have to take another beating" Chandler said he didn't want Monica to have to go through that again. "No he's right without conclusive video evidence we won't be able to get him we can set it up and you guys can watch what's going on and come to help me if something goes wrong" Monica said, everyone was shocked to hear her say this.

"Mon are you sure?" Chandler asked, "Yes, it's the only way" she said blinking back tears. "If your sure then I know this store that sells that kind of spy stuff and we can hook it up to Chandler's laptop and watch you, but it will cost us" Phoebe said, "How do you know about this place?" Joey asked looking confused. "I have my ways" Phoebe said smiling, "Fine we'll go out and get it today and set it up for tonight, I have to get ready for work now so I assume you guys can handle it" Chandler said, they all nodded "Fine I'll see you later" then he left to get ready for work. Monica took another day off of work today she knew it was wrong to take so many days off in a week but she just had to. She began thinking about Chandler, 'He seemed really concerned about me' she thought 'Maybe I do have some feelings for him, and he would never ever hurt me' she was interrupted from her thoughts when Phoebe asked "So do you want to go with me or stay here?" "I think I'll stay here" Monica said her thoughts going back to Chandler.

After they went to the spy store and got the camera, after a couple of unsuccessful attempts to set up the camera they finally looked at the instructions and set it up in five minutes. When Chandler got back they set up receiver on Chandler's laptop and got ready. "Mon are you still sure about this?" Chandler asked still not feeling good about this, "I'm sure this will keep him away from me and then this way they can't call me a liar" Monica said feeling nervous but knowing that she had to do this. Then after checking the signal, they sat back and waited for Richard to come home.

Ross and Rachel had just arrived in Greece; the hotel they had booked was beautiful, it had a view of the Mediterranean Sea, and another fantastic room with dinner waiting in the room. "Ross we are going to go broke from all of this aren't we" she said as she began to eat her lobster. "We won't go broke, my parents paid for the wedding and your parent's gift covers some of this, besides I've been saving up for years to be sure we would have the perfect honeymoon" Ross said, "Fine if your sure" Rachel said still not convinced but went with it. "Ross don't you find it as odd, that we have only gotten an e-mail from Chandler and not anything else" she questioned wondering what was going on with them. "I know it is a little bit odd but I'm sure that they just want to leave us alone, besides we'll see them in a week" Ross said. "Your right" Rachel sighed as they went back to dinner.

**Please Review**


	12. The Calm Before the Storm

**AN: Here's how the updates are going to work, definitely one on Saturday, and Sunday. I will also try to get one or two up during the week, until this story is done and every story I do from now on.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Friends**

Chapter 12: The Calm Before the Storm

The camera was working on Chandler's computer and they began to record everything that was taking place. If Monica needed help Joey would jump in to save her and if necessary they would call the police. Monica wasn't cooking dinner tonight; she wanted to make Richard mad, even if part of her was scared. She knew that this was the only way that this could end. She began to think about Chandler, he was so sweet to her, he was the only one who was really concerned about her, not that Phoebe and Joey weren't worried, Chandler cared in a different way. She thought about how she felt about him, he was her best friend other than Rachel, she could always talk to him, and she could see herself dating him. 'I think I'm beginning to fall in love with him' a little voice in her head told her as she heard Richard come in.

Chandler was a nervous wreck, 'I love her so much and to see her having to take a beating is just…' his mind trailed off. He loved her so much, he wasn't going to lie to himself anymore he loved her more than anything else. He wasn't sure how she felt about him; he hoped she would one day feel the same. He would have made his move but he knew this wasn't a good time, she still loved Richard a little bit, and she wouldn't trust anyone in a relationship for a long time. This was killing him, 'Don't worry about yourself worry about Monica she has to take a beating just to convict' his mind told him. That made him think about how brave Monica was, not everyone would do this, he looked at the screen 'God she is beautiful' he thought as Richard appeared on the screen.

"Where's dinner?" Richard asked getting angry, "I didn't have time to make it tonight" Monica said bracing herself. Richard was suspicious; normally he would have hit her but the events of this morning made him a little nervous. "Don't worry about it we'll just order something" Richard said in a sweet tone. This threw Monica off she hadn't expected this; she would have to do some minor stuff that really annoyed him. "So what do you want" she asked, "Pizza is fine" Richard said holding back his anger. The rest of the night went peacefully they ate in peace and nothing happened. 'What if they think I'm lying know' Monica thought, that made her worry, even though she knew that they would believe her. After dinner was cleaned up Monica went to go to bed then Richard grabbed her. "Where are they?" he whispered into her ear, "I've checked everywhere and nobody is here, tell me right now if anyone is her" he demanded. "No one is here" Monica said a little happy that they were gathering evidence. "Good, now where were we last night?" Richard asked, while Monica began to shake in fear, not noticing that he had locked the door.

After Richard had gotten home Chandler thought this would be a five minute job, he explodes and they get evidence. He was very wrong, 'He must suspect something' Chandler thought as he watched nothing happen. Joey had gone out to get something to eat; he came home with meatball subs for them and a veggie sandwich for Phoebe. "This is boring" Joey said after a half an hour of nothing happening. "I agree with you, but Richard is smarter than we think he is so he's being careful about what he does" Chandler explained to him. Joey thought that answer made sense and went back to his sandwich. A little while later they saw Monica beginning to get ready for bed and Richard grabbing her, "That's it we have him" Joey said excited. "No, not yet Joey stand outside the door and when I say go in get in there" Chandler said he was getting worried they couldn't hear what they were saying. All he knew was that Monica was shaking in fear, he was ready to send Joey in but then his mind said 'Hold it, we need evidence' he bit his lip and waited.

Richard noticed something right then, a camera he was being watched, he couldn't just unplug it, he had to do it carefully. He let Monica go and said "I love you so much" he would wait until tonight to strike. Monica couldn't believe this, 'Did he know' she wondered, she couldn't go back to Chandler's that would look bad. So she just went to get ready to sleep for the night. No one in Chandler's apartment could believe it they had him, but he must have seen something. "We had him, and he got away" Phoebe said frustrated. "Should we go over there tonight?" Joey asked, "No that prove what Richard might think, we take shifts tonight, we'll each stay up for a little bit and if we hear any noises come from Monica's apartment we go in" Chandler said, both Joey and Phoebe nodded in agreement.

Rachel felt something strange was going on, Ross felt the same they just couldn't put there fingers on it. "Ross I want to call them tomorrow" Rachel said she felt that something was wrong. "We will don't worry about it" Ross said trying to get his wife to calm down; he felt something was weird to but he couldn't tell what. Rachel knew that she was just being paranoid but she couldn't help it maybe it was because they had been away from everyone for so long but she just felt like something was very wrong back in New York. "Don't worry about it" Ross said I'm sure that everyone is fine he told her, but everything was not fine and he knew that, it made him mad that all he could do is wait and see.

**Please Review**


	13. A New Plan

**AN: I am sorry to everyone for not updating as much as I did before. My mom just got sick, and between school and helping around the house I just didn't have time. So I can guarantee weekend and holiday updates, with a possible update during the week if I'm really lucky. Thanks for all the reviews and on with this story.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Friends**

Chapter 13: A New Plan

Monica was worried when Richard went to bed that night, she stayed up as late as she could but then her body began to do otherwise. Richard was still awake when she came to bed, "Good night sweetheart" he said before going to bed. 'He's worried about being caught' Monica thought. Monica stayed up a little while longer on the off chance that Richard was just faking it. When it became one in the morning Monica decided that he wasn't faking and went to sleep on the couch. Even if Richard would get mad at her at least the camera would be on, 'If he knows about the camera he won't try anything' she thought before falling into a dreamless sleep.

Chandler, Phoebe, and Joey took alternating shifts watching the video stream to see if anything happened to Monica. All they saw was a sleeping Monica that nearly bored them to sleep. Chandler was the only one who actually enjoyed it, he liked watching Monica sleep, even if it wasn't under the best circumstances, he still thought she looked beautiful when she was asleep. 'I will make a move on her one day, but not until Richard is behind bars and she is all over this' he thought to himself. He found himself annoyed by that thought even if it was a little wrong to want her he still wanted her and that was driving him crazy. He just wondered if she felt the same about him, he hoped that she did or would one day. If she didn't he wasn't sure what he would do but he would face that bridge when or if he had to cross it.

The next three days were all like the first day, they moved the camera all around and still Richard was acting like a perfect gentleman. Monica was worried that they were all going to stop believing her. Chandler was just worried for Monica they couldn't keep this up three days were already taking there toll on them. Joey was just fine since most of his readings were during the day he didn't have to do anything, and if he was home all he would do was watch the camera if Monica was home to. Phoebe was worried about Monica she knew that this was killing Monica, it was bad enough that she had to live through the abuse, but to have to go back and get hit again just to put Richard in jail just didn't seem fair, but it was the only way.

"This isn't working" Chandler said when they were all together. "I know what are we going to do?" Joey asked. "Don't forget Ross and Rachel come home tomorrow from their honeymoon, what are we going to tell them?" Phoebe added in, Monica had stayed silent through all of this. She was thinking about Ross and Rachel coming home and trying to come up with a plan when something clicked in her head. "I have an idea" she stated causing everyone to look at her. "Well?" Chandler asked, "Richard won't do anything if he thinks that you guys are here" she said taking a breath "So I know that he has been waiting to beat me all week, so we give him the wrong time when you go to pick them up" she stopped, everybody seemed to like this idea. "I think he knows there is a camera in there, so we buy and step-up another camera and right when he starts we will catch it, and you guys should arrive home right after he starts" she finished.

It all seemed to make sense to them, they leave, he comes home, beats her, catch it on camera, and come home in time to save her. "What if we don't get back in enough time?" Chandler asked, Monica hadn't thought of that. "I know Joey can just stay across the street at Ross and Rach's apartment and if things start going bad he can call the police or go over" Phoebe said. Joey agreed on the spot to do that, "Anything to help Monica" he said. Chandler was a little nervous about what was happening but he knew that Monica wanted to do this and this was their best chance to catch Richard so he agreed. "So what time do they get home tomorrow?" Chandler asked, "Their plane arrives at 6:50 tomorrow evening at JFK" Monica said. "Mon try and stay out as long as you can get home right around 8:00 we should be back a couple minutes past that" Phoebe said, "Pheebs that's impossible we can't make that kind of time" Chandler said, "Don't worry we will" Phoebe said leaving Chandler a little bit frightened. He took one last look at Monica and thought 'Just one more day' that was all he could hope for.

Ross and Rachel were spending there last night of their honeymoon, they had called their friends like they said they would, all they got out of them was that Phoebe would pick them up and that was all. That had calmed their nerves a little bit, they were still on edge and thought that something was wrong, but ignored it. "I can't wait to get home tomorrow" Rachel said packing up her suitcases, she could barely fit all of her clothes and everything she bought in her suitcases. "I know, I can't wait to get back to Ben and my regular life, not that this hasn't been fun" Ross said. Rachel had finally gotten her couple of suitcases closed but couldn't lift them. "Ross you have to help me lift these" Rachel said struggling to lift them. "Yeah sure" he said he went to pick them up and could barely lift them to. "Tell you what, let's just have someone else help us with this" he said, "Sure" Rachel said "You may be a weakling, but you're my weakling" she said kissing him. "As much as I love the sex how about we actually get some sleep tonight so we have some energy for tomorrow" he suggested. Rachel frowned and said "Fine, as if sleep is that important" "Don't worry we'll have fun tomorrow night" he said. They finished packing and went to sleep.

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	14. It All Comes Into Place

**AN: If you doubted my empty promises in the last chapter then you will be pleasantly surprised that their will in fact be an update today and tomorrow. Thanks for all the reviews and on with the story. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing that belongs to Friends**

Chapter 14: It All Comes Into Place

It was decided later that evening, that Phoebe and Chandler would tell Ross and Rachel on the way to the apartment. They weren't sure how they would take it but they did have a right to know about it. The entire day an awkward air surrounded them. Richard had left early acting like the perfect gentlemen, Joey had gone over to Ross and Rachel's to stock up for tonight. Chandler couldn't concentrate at work, which was bad considering his new job required a lot of that, but he still go his work done. Monica had gone into work thinking about Chandler all day; she thought she was falling in love with him. That scared her; even though she knew that Chandler would never do anything to her she still felt a bit uneasy about these new feelings. Phoebe was just waiting, waiting for the inevitable, waiting for closure, and waiting for tonight when it would all hopefully end. She had gone to her psychic today to see what was in the future. She saw two paths one with death, and the other with joy and love.

Phoebe had picked up Chandler at work and they headed straight to the airport. She had made sure that both Monica and Joey were set before she left. They had set up two more cameras around the apartment just in case Richard noticed one; they figured that he would only be looking for one if he knew about them. They put Joey in the apartment with the lights off so Richard wouldn't see him over there and stop. He was all set up with snacks before she left. The ride to the airport went in silence, their was a lot of tension, not between them, but between what would happen. They arrived a couple minutes early, they drove around waiting for them, and then they saw them.

Ross and Rachel had slept most of the time on the plane, that was the only problem with Atlantic flights too much travel time. They got off the plane, got their luggage, and went to meet Phoebe. They were surprised to see Chandler with her. "Chandler what are you doing here?" Rachel asked. "I just felt like seeing you sooner" Chandler said, both Ross and Rachel noticed that their was something off with his voice. They then took a closer look at him; he looked like he hadn't gotten a good's night sleep in days. They both noticed this but didn't say anything. "It's nice to see you" Ross said, "Same here" Chandler replied. "Listen guys before we get back to the apartment we have to tell you something" Phoebe said as they began to drive off.

"What do you have to tell us?" Rachel asked, "Well basically ever since your wedding Richard has been abusing Monica, she told us, we tried to catch him, and now we had to leave to catch him in the act because we think he's on to us" Phoebe said. Ross and Rachel were in shock, had they heard Phoebe right, was all of that true. Finally Ross spoke up "You mean for the past three weeks my sister has been being hit?" "No, from what Monica told us he did it only a couple times the first week, all the second week, and only a couple days this week because we think he knows that we know about what's been going on" Chandler explained hoping that it made sense. "So what's going on now?" Rachel asked on the verge of tears, she blamed herself 'If I had been here for her this wouldn't have happened' was all that she could think. "We have camera's set up around her place to catch him, she has to take a beating just to put him in jail, just because her word against his wasn't good enough along with almost no physical evidence" Chandler explained.

At this Ross exploded "What!" he screamed. "Listen" Phoebe said trying to calm her down, "It was her idea and it was the only way to catch him and guarantee a conviction, otherwise he may have gotten off" Chandler said. "Fine" Ross said calming down a little, by this point Rachel was sobbing on Ross "It's my fault, I should have been here for her" she said. "Rach don't think like that, we were here and she did a good job hiding it from us, this is no way your fault, it's only Richard's" Phoebe said to her. "She's right, you couldn't have done anything" Ross told his wife, that seemed to calm Rachel down a little bit. "But what about right now who's watching her?" Ross asked, "We have Joey across the street in your apartment, if anything goes wrong he calls the police and goes over" Chandler said just hoping that Joey was staying on track with his one job.

Joey was bored out of this mind, their was only so long one person could watch Monica clean without going insane. He began to watch TV he figured that as long as Richard wasn't there it wouldn't matter if he wasted some time. He was worried about Monica, how anybody could ever do that was unfathomable to him. He may have been a womanizer but he would never hurt any girl physically the way Richard did. Just thinking about it made him feel sick. He sat and watched some trash on VH1, he still remembered when they had actual music video's on instead of this reality crap. After a while he turned his attention to Monica again, he could she her sitting down and relaxing for the first time in a good while. He checked the time 7:45, that would mean that Richard would be home soon, along with everyone else. A few minute's later he saw Richard walk in the door. This was it, he knew it, and he only hoped that Monica could get Richard to start in the next ten minutes so everyone would catch him in the act. It would kill him to see Monica take a beating but he knew he had to hold back and at that thought he took a deep breath and waited to see what would happen across the street.

**I'm so evil aren't I, Please Review**


	15. The Plan in Action

**AN: Last update until the weekend, I have checked and I have no regular days off until spring break. So I can only update two times a week until then sorry. This story is almost done, I'm thinking a couple more chapters and then I end it. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Friends**

Chapter 15: The Plan in Action

Richard had been nervous the past couple of days. He was sure that people were watching him and trying to catch him beating Monica. So because of that he hadn't done it, he knew that she was egging him on trying to get him to do it. It had killed him he really wanted to hit her, to control her, but he just couldn't. He wouldn't do anything until he knew that all of her friends were gone and he wasn't being watched. He had a horrible day at work, he just wanted to take out his frustrations on something but all he could do was hold all of his anger in and wait for his moment.

Monica had been nervous all day. This was the worst that she had ever been, she had scrubbed the floor so many times you really could eat off of it and not get sick. She was starting to regret even suggesting this idea, but her mind always led her back to one thought, 'It's the only way to escape' she sighed whenever she thought that. She knew that Joey was right across the street and would save her, but what if he fell asleep or wasn't quick enough. She dismissed those thoughts from her mind with thoughts of cleaning, cooking, and Chandler. She knew that he cared about her, she was lost in her thoughts when she heard Richard walk in, 'Show time' she thought to herself.

"Hey baby" Richard said walking in, "Hey" she said. "Ross and Rachel won't be home until ten tonight" Monica told him, "Chandler and Phoebe went to pick them up, and Joey has a date tonight, so it's just us" Monica said, she thought she was being a bit upfront but she just hoped he bought it. Richard was amazed to here this, this was his chance everyone was out, he then realized that he hadn't heard anyone across the hall so it had to be true, all he had to do now was check for camera's and he was set. "Really?" he said in a fake sense of shock. He began to look for the camera's sure he wasn't hiding it but he noticed that Monica didn't care. Monica knew that he was taking the bait know all she had to do was wait for it. He was looking around and found a tiny camera hidden from view; you couldn't have seen it unless you were looking for it.

Richard turned it off, he felt safe now. "Did you really think you could fool me" Richard screamed, it had been more of a statement into a question. "What are you talking about?" Monica asked faking ignorance, "You know what I'm talking about!" Richard screamed, "You could not hide this from me I own you!" Richard now had the confidence he needed; he raised his hand and hit her hard across the face. 'That's it we have all the evidence we need' thought Monica as she felt a swift kick to the ribs and continued beating her. Across the street Joey was horrified by what he was seeing, but he couldn't go rushing in just yet. He had just gotten a call from Chandler saying that they would be there in five minutes and he had to wait, they had to get more to put him away for the rest of his life.

They were almost back to the apartment now, they had called Joey, and he had told them that Richard was home so they were hurrying to get there as fast as they could. "Let's just leave the luggage in here and go up there right away" Rachel said, it had been the first thing she had said in a while. "I'll just drop you guys off and go in there, we'll need eye witness testimony" Phoebe said. The next couple of minutes the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. When they finally got there Chandler, Rachel, and Ross hurried upstairs not sure what they would find when they got up there. Joey was a nervous wreck by now, the only reason he knew that Monica was still alive was the fact that she was moving. If he hadn't of seen Phoebe drop everyone off, he would have called the police right then and there. But that had put him at ease, all she had to do was survive another thirty seconds and everything would be fine, and as soon as he saw them walk in he would call the police.

Monica was sure that a couple of her ribs had been broken; she had cut her head when she fell. This was the worst pain that she had ever felt 'When is everyone going to come?' she wondered to herself. Just as she was going to lose hope she heard the door open along with a couple of gasps, she thought it was Rachel, Ross, and Chandler, but in her dazed state she couldn't tell. Richard was shocked when he heard someone walk in, he was so sure that he was alone, and then seeing Chandler, Ross, and Rachel walk in looking like they were ready to kill him. "I uh…what's everyone doing here?" he asked trying to think of a way to explain what was in front of them. Ross was livid, he couldn't believe that someone could do that to his sister, he wanted to kill Richard. Rachel was shocked at the sight of her best friend, right then she didn't care about Richard all she cared about was helping her best friend. Chandler as much as he wanted to help Monica knew that if things turned ugly Ross would need help with Richard, besides Rachel was helping her. They were all frozen in silence waiting for someone to make the first move, but then they heard a knock at the door, Ross opened it, it was the police.

**Please Review, and see you on Saturday**


	16. What Happens Now?

**AN: Good news to all of you, I have enough free time today to write a new chapter. So thanks for all the reviews. This will be one of the last chapter's I haven't decided how many are left I'm thinking one to three so this should be done on Sunday but don't quote me on that.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Friends**

Chapter 16: What Happens Now?

Richard knew that he was in a hole with no way out; her friends were here along with the police he knew he was trapped now. "Would someone like to explain what's going on here?" one of the officers asked, "What are you doing here?" Richard asked trying to figure a way out. "Got a called about domestic abuse" he said, he took a look at Monica and said "Smith, call an ambulance that girl needs medical attention" "Sure thing Jones" the other officer said and called the ambulance. "Now will someone please explain what is going on here?" Smith asked, he didn't feel like this tonight but he still had to deal with this. "Well I came home today to find him over there beating my girlfriend" Richard said pointing over to Chandler, "Then my girlfriends brother and wife came over, some one must have seen it happening and called the police" Richard said wondering if he really bought it.

Smith wasn't convinced; he had seen enough of these to know what was really going on. He took a look at Chandler he looked like he had just gotten there wasn't sweaty or anything. The guy, who had answered on the other hand, looked red in the face and all sweaty he had definitely done it, but with out the girl's testimony they had nothing. "What's your name?" the officer asked Richard, "Dr. Richard Burke" he answered back, now it all made sense some rich doctor beating his girlfriend of the week. "Well aren't you going to arrest them?" Richard asked, "Not until I here the other side of the story" the ambulance had arrived now and they were moving Monica downstairs. "You, what happened here" he said to Chandler. "Well a couple of days ago we found out that Richard was abusing Monica, his girlfriend, and we were trying to catch him, and we finally did tonight" Chandler explained, "He's lying!" Richard screamed. "Calm down, you two who's telling the truth and I want it now" Smith said getting annoyed, "Chandler is telling the truth, my husband and I were just on our honeymoon, we just got back today, and he told us what happened, two more people along with Monica will back us up on this" Rachel said.

"Were can I find these other two?" Smith asked, "They will be here in a couple of minutes" Ross said, "Fine then, Jones go to the hospital with here while I sort all of this out" "Yes sir" Jones replied and left, "When can we see Monica?" Chandler asked, "Soon, as soon as your other friends get here we can sort this out" Smith answered. Just then Joey and Phoebe walked in "Where's Monica?" both of them asked at the same time. "She's at the hospital now tell me what was going on here" they both filled him in on what had happened, the suspicions, finding out, trying to catch him, and the plan tonight. "While I think you should have contacted us first, you still did a good job at catching him, I just need the video of what happened" he froze and took a breath. "Richard Burke you are under arrest" he continued to read Richard his rights. "Your friend is on her way to Bellevue ask the nurse and she'll tell you, now we'll still need her to testify to put him away" Smith said, "You'll never get away with this I will return" Richard shouted as they took him away "Yeah tell it to someone who cares" Smith said.

It was decided that Phoebe would stay at the apartment while the police finished up there and she would catch up to them later. They made their way to the hospital; a little while later they were there. "We're looking for Monica Geller" Ross said when they got to the help desk "Relation?" the receptionist asked, "I'm her brother" Ross answered, "She's still in surgery right now, I'll have the doctor tell you when she's out" "What's the surgery?" Chandler asked, "It says here a rib punctured her lung, other then that it says just minor injuries" she said. All of them were shocked they had expected a couple of minor injuries but nothing as big as this. Rachel began to cry "It's my fault" Joey said "I waited too long" "Don't worry about it Joe we should have just called the police and not gone through with this plan" Chandler said worrying about her. "Ross you should call your parents they should be here" Chandler suggested, "You're right, I'll give them a call" he said taking out his cell phone.

The phone rang a couple of times before someone picked up "Hello" Jack Geller said, "Hey dad, it's Ross" "Ross it's good to hear from you how was your honeymoon?" he asked, "It was great, listen you and mom need to get down to Bellevue right now" Ross said, "Why is something wrong with you or Rachel?" he asked getting worried, "No it's Monica" Ross answered. "Monica what's wrong with her?" he asked, "We'll tell you when you get here, just please hurry" Ross said, "Sure your mother and I will be down there right away, tell Monica we love her" he said, "Will do, see you soon" Ross said hanging up. "Judy!" Jack screamed getting his shoes on, "What is it Jack" Judy asked, "We have to get to New York Monica's in the hospital" he said. "What, why?" she asked "Not sure Ross said he'd explain when we got there hurry up" he said to his wife. Judy got dressed and in five minutes they were on their way to New York, both of them worried about their daughter.

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	17. Waiting and Hoping

**AN: Some big news today my first story, Why Ross, I have decided that I wanted to revise the ending and lengthen it. So I am picking up the story and working on it some more. So on to this story I take back what I said last time I really have no idea when this will be done, but the updates will continue regularly. Thanks for the reviews and on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing even closely related to Friends**

Chapter 17: Waiting and Hoping

They all sat waiting for Monica and Ross's parents to arrive none of them wanted to have to tell them what Richard had done to Monica but someone had to. After a few minutes of debate they all said that Ross should be the one to do it since they were his parents. Chandler was a wreck they had been waiting for any news on Monica's condition and so far had gotten none. Chandler didn't know what he would do without her even though he never cried he was beginning to want to but he still just couldn't. Rachel was in shock, her best friend could die, all because of some jerk she hated Richard now and if she saw him again she just might kill him. Ross wanted to kill Richard to he knew that he never really would but the thought had crossed his mind, just the fact that someone hurt his little sister disgusted him. Joey was mad at himself if he had called a little bit earlier maybe she wouldn't be fighting for her life, he blamed himself. Phoebe blamed herself to 'If I had only driven a little bit faster' was all she could think.

A little while later a doctor came up to them, "How is she?" Chandler asked, "Well she's looking better we've stabilized her lung, if you had gotten here five minutes later she would have died, she has a little brain damage but nothing serious, the next 24 hours are critical if she makes it she will make a full recovery and you can she her now" the doctor said, "What happens if something goes wrong in the next 24 hours?" Rachel asked afraid of the answer. "If something goes wrong then we will do all we can but the chance of more brain damage is high and there is a good chance that she will die or never recover, I'm sorry" the doctor said going to see other patients. This hit the group like a ton of bricks she could die, she could really die and there was nothing that they could do about, they stood there for what seemed like an eternity until a voice brought them out of it. "Where's Monica?" Judy asked worried at the sight of everyone when they arrived.

"Mom, dad" Ross said breaking out of his stupor, "Where's Monica?" Jack repeated wanting to know what had happened to his daughter. "Listen from what we know Richard was abusing Monica and tonight he put her in the hospital" Ross said wondering how his parents would take it. "Richard really did that?" Jack asked in shock "Yes he did, it only began when Ross and Rachel got married" Chandler said jumping in to the conversation. "He broke her ribs tonight and one of them punctured her lung and the doctors not sure if she'll make it through the night" Ross said his eyes brimming with tears. At this last statement Judy broke down all the ways that she had treated Monica over the years were coming back to her and she felt horrible. Her baby girl might die tonight and there was nothing that she could do about it. Jack was just as shocked Richard was a friend of his he had never expected this, he thought an accident or something but never that a former friend of his would do this to his daughter.

"Where is Richard now?" Jack asked he wanted to know so he could kill him. "The police have him, he'll probably be out on parole tomorrow and then when Monica is better he'll be brought to trial" Ross said, "When can we see her?" Judy asked, she had to see her daughter, she just had to. "We can see her now but you guys should go in first" Chandler said to Jack and Judy. "Yes we will" Judy said. They both went in to see Monica, when they got in the room they first noticed how pale and bruised she looked. "Monica it's daddy I'm sorry my former friend did this to you please just get better" Jack said to her. "Monica it's your mother I know that we always didn't get along but I just want you to know that I love you so much please get better again" Judy said before she just broke down. After they left Ross and Rachel went in "Hey Mon I'm not sure if you can hear me but I just wanted to tell you that I love you and please get better Rachel has to tell someone who cares about our honeymoon" Ross said, "Monica it's Rachel I just wanted to tell you that I love as a sister so much please get better so Richard gets what's coming to him please" as Rachel finished she broke down into tears and left.

Joey and Phoebe both came in next "Monica I'm so sorry I should have called the police or went over sooner please forgive me" Joey said as he started to cry. "Mon I'm sorry to if I had driven faster maybe we wouldn't be here just get better quick" Phoebe said as she helped Joey out of the room. Chandler was the last to enter he felt a little awkward since he was alone. He looked down at her even in this light she still looked like and angel, a bruised and beaten angel. That made his heart break no one deserved this least of all Monica. "Monica I have wanted to tell you this for a while now and this may be my only chance to do it so here it goes" Chandler said. "When I first met you I did think you were a little weird but I felt something else something I couldn't explain at the time, then as we saw more of each other my feelings got stronger until I was pretty sure I love you" he paused. "But I never acted on the feelings for fear of rejection, and then you started to date Richard and I felt like I could never be with you and now even with him gone I still might never be with you" Chandler started to cry now. "I just want you to know that I do love you with all my heart and I hope you wake up because without you I'd be lost" he was beginning to sob at this point. He waited a minute to collect himself and then went back outside to wait hoping that she would be alright.

**Please Review **


	18. Waking Up

**AN: Last update until Saturday nothing super new or big on this end I'm thinking that the trial will be in the next couple of chapter. Once again thank you for the reviews and any criticism is appreciated.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Friends but maybe I will someday**

Chapter 18: Waking Up

The next 24 hours were a living hell for everyone. They had gone to see Monica a couple more times but none of them spent more than five minutes with her, mainly because the doctor didn't want them to, he felt that it would not be good for her. They had all stayed in the hospital most of the night, Ross, Rachel, Judy, and Jack all went back to Ross and Rachel's apartment to get some sleep, while Phoebe, Joey, and Chandler stayed. When the first group came back the other group went home to get some sleep. They timed it so that they would all be back and fresh when Monica woke up. They were all still deathly worried about Monica none of them really got any sleep while they were at home; only because they knew that they had to get sleep did they even get any sleep.

Chandler got no sleep at all he was too worried about Monica. He couldn't help but think about Richard, how he hated Richard now at one point he looked up to Richard but he couldn't even say that name anymore without disgust. How someone could to that to anyone he would never understand. The police would say that it was about control but he didn't believe that. He believed that Richard was a horrible person who did this just because and no reason would ever vilify it. He looked at himself in the mirror he couldn't believe that this was him; he had bags under his eyes he looked like he hadn't slept in a week. His hair was all greasy and messy, and he looked pale he realized he hadn't had anything to eat in 12 hours. 'As long as I'm here I might as well get cleaned up' he thought to himself.

He ending up taking a shower and ate some cold pizza it wasn't real food but it was the closest thing he had to real food. All he could do was think about her, he sighed; Joey and Phoebe wouldn't be up for an hour so he decided to go to the hospital. He wrote them a note telling them where he was going. He knew he wasn't in the best condition to get to the hospital he was tired and he knew it but he just couldn't sleep until he knew that Monica was o.k. Ross and his family were surprised to see Chandler back so soon. "Where are Joey and Phoebe?" Rachel asked, "They are back at the apartment, I just can't sleep so I figured that I might as well be here" Chandler explained. 'Shoot, of course none of them know I love Monica only Joey and Phoebe do, I can't seem suspicious' he thought to himself. They all seemed to buy it 'They must be too concerned about Monica to care' Chandler thought to himself.

"Any word on her condition?" Chandler asked hoping for the best, "Nothing new, the doctor just went so we should know something in a couple of minutes" Ross said. Chandler took a look at everyone all of them looked as bad as he did, he really hoped Monica would be fine because if she wasn't their would be seven people who would never recover. The doctor came out just then, "I have good news" he said everyone looked at him with anticipation at this statement. "She has just woken up and she will be fine, you can see her in a couple of minutes we just need to finish checking things out" he said going back into Monica's room. Everyone was so relieved at this, just then Joey and Phoebe came in. "Will Monica be o.k.?" Phoebe asked worried, the doctor just said that she would be fine. Both Joey and Phoebe seemed to loosen up at that. A little while later the doctor came out. "She will make a full recovery, and she is asking for a Chandler Bing" the doctor said.

Everyone was shocked at that statement, "Why doesn't she want to see us first?" Jack asked, "I really can't say as soon as she woke up she began asking for Chandler Bing" the doctor said. "Why would she want to see the boy who hates Thanksgiving before her own family?" Judy asked pointing over to Chandler. "You hate Thanksgiving?" the doctor asked him looking shocked, "Long story" Chandler told him. "Well anyway, Mrs. Geller I am sorry but she wants to she him first and I suggest that you follow her wishes it's what is best for her" the doctor told her. "Is it really what is best for Monica?" Ross asked saying something for the first time, "Yes it is, I don't know why she wants to see him all I know is that all through the examination she was asking for him" the doctor said getting annoyed at these people.

"She was asking for him" Judy said more as a statement than an actual question, she couldn't believe that Monica would rather see him than her. Jack was taken back to say the least but knew that he had to respect his daughters wishes. Ross was wondering why she wanted to see him his mind just couldn't work it out right now. Rachel had a feeling the Chandler had deeper feelings for Monica for a while but was hiding them. She was just surprised that Monica apparently felt the same way about Chandler but was happy for him. Joey and Phoebe weren't that amazed they both knew that Chandler loved Monica they just weren't sure if she felt the same way. "Yes she was now Mr. Bing get in there" he snapped at them he had other patients to get to and he didn't have time for this. Slowly Chandler walked up and opened the door unsure what to expect on the other end.

**Please Review**


	19. Talking to Monica

**AN: Rough week sorry for nothing new last week, but with a research paper and a couple other things to write I really had no chance. Any way I will try to keep on doing the weekend updates but around mid-March to the second weekend in April please be patient since I will be studying for the SAT's,but I will continue until my stories are finished. **

**Disclaimer: They still don't belong to me.**

Chapter 19: Talking to Monica

Monica had woken up some time ago, 'What am I doing here?' was her first thought. Then the events of what had happened came back, she still couldn't believe that Richard had been that cruel or that she had been that foolish. Then a new thought came to mind 'What if he blamed someone else and is waiting for me?' that thought scared her so much that she began to break down. About a minute later the doctor came in, he looked a little shocked to see Monica up.

"Hello Monica" the doctor said, "My name is Dr. Wilson" he said this as softly as he could so he wouldn't shock her. Monica looked up at him she was a little afraid but he looked friendly enough so she asked him a question. "Why am I here?" she said this to get information in the most round about way, "Well from what we know your boyfriend beat you up, your friends called the police, and your boyfriend is in jail" he said it simple so that he wouldn't overwhelm her.

Relief flooded through Monica, 'It's over it really is' she thought then another thought came upon her, 'Ross and Rachel were coming home and I wrecked their honeymoon, they won't want to talk to me' she began to cry at that thought but held it in. "I'll just tell everyone that your awake and that they can see you soon" he said, "Who's all here?" Monica asked "Your brother, sister-in-law, mother, father, and three friends" he replied as he went to tell them the good news.

'They all really do care' a shocked Monica thought to herself she thought that someone would be there but not everyone. The doctor came back in and began to check her to see if she had any permanent damage. It was then that Monica remembered something important she had a dream while she was asleep. Usually this wouldn't be a big deal but to her this one was. She dreamt that she had been married to someone. 'Think Monica who was it, he said that he loved you and meant it' she thought to herself. Then like a bolt of lighting she realized who she dreamed she was married to the man was Chandler.

She was shocked at this revelation sure she thought that he looked kind of cute but he was never marriage material. 'But what if he is?' her mind asked her, 'He just isn't, he's my best friend and besides he would never love me I bet he doesn't even want to be friends with me after this' she thought again. In her heart she knew that he would always support her no matter what, but her mind just couldn't shake this thought that they would all hate her. 'Just ask the doctor to bring him in and take it from there' her mind suggested, 'I really am going crazy' Monica thought before saying "Please send Chandler Bing in if he's out there" "Sure just give me a minute" Dr. Wilson said.

As soon as the doctor left the room Monica's heart began to beat a mile a minute. 'What if he hates me, what if he turns me down?' was all she could think but she also knew that it was now or never and she had to get this off of her chest. Chandler came in, he wasn't really sure how to react, on the one hand he was glad Monica was fine but on the other he really didn't know why she wanted to talk to him. "So how bout those Yankees they should win this year" Chandler said mentally kicking himself for saying something so idiotic. Monica couldn't help but smile at this he was treating her like a real person and not some fragile package.

Chandler saw this and was happy that she took it so well. He wanted to go over to her hug her, kiss her, and tell her that everything would be alright but he knew that she would find that weird and he didn't want to take advantage of her in her fragile state. "So any special reason you wanted to talk to me?" he asked, he was curious why she would pick him instead of family but then again he knew her family so he could she why. She froze at that question she really didn't know why she just knew that she needed to see him and she wasn't really sure what that meant.

After about a minute of silence Chandler stepped in and said "They caught Richard, all you need to do is testify against him and he'll be put in prison for a long time" a hint of anger was evident in his voice. Monica began to break down when she heard this; she really didn't want to see him again. Chandler realizing his mistake said "Mon don't worry about that right now, we have all the evidence we need all you need to do is say that he did it" he hoped this would calm her down and it did. 'God she looks so beautiful, maybe just maybe, after the trial I'll tell her how I feel' Chandler thought to himself. "Thanks Chandler you've always been there for me and I don't know what I'd do with out you" Monica said, 'I really want to tell him how I feel, but it isn't the right time, he'll think I'm just on the rebound' she thought, 'After the trial if I still feel this I'll tell him' she told herself.

"Well thanks for giving me the update" Monica said, "How's your new job going?" she asked. "It's going great, no major complaints I'm just glad that you fine" he said. "That's good I'm glad something is going your way you deserve it" she told him. "Don't worry you'll get your piece of happiness soon enough" he told her, she frowned "No I won't I'll die an old maid" she began to cry. "Mon don't worry you won't Richard was just a jerk who didn't know what he had" he told her, "You really mean that?" she asked still unsure. "Yes I do" he said, they sat in silence for a minute "Well it was great talking to you, but I should talk to everyone else" Monica said, "Yeah I'll send in Ross and Rachel they really want to see you, is that o.k.?" he asked. "That's fine" she responded and at that Chandler left to get Ross and Rachel.

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	20. Talking with Friends

**AN: How I slave away for you people. Anyway thanks for all the reviews and please review this chapter it makes me feel like I'm doing something right. Anyway this is a kind of filler chapter I'm thinking the chapter after next chapter or the one after it will be the start of the trial. This will be a Ross, Rachel, Monica chapter and no other characters will be involved. Also Go Steelers. **

**Disclaimer: I own a season on DVD if that counts for anything**

Chapter 20: Talking with Friends

Ross and Rachel both came in at the same time; they had been worried about Monica so much. Ross felt it was his fault because he should have protected his sister while Rachel thought it was hers to because she couldn't sense anything was wrong with her. They were both shocked by her appearance they had expected her to look bad not just this bad. Her hair was all messy and knotted, she looked like she had aged about five years, and she looked painfully thin. Monica was a little annoyed at the looks of shock to her appearance, Chandler hadn't done that she just hoped that they wouldn't look down on her now.

"Glad your doing better know Mon" Ross said breaking the silence, "Well I'm glad too" Monica said just trying to get some sort of conversation going. "So how was the honeymoon?" Monica asked she really did want to know. "It was good, spent a lot of time shopping and going to boring museums" Rachel said. "Sorry about ruining your honeymoon" Monica said her head hanging. "Monica do you really think you ruined our honeymoon?" Ross asked, Monica nodded her head. "You didn't ruin it we still had a great time I just wish you would have told someone sooner about Richard" Ross said hugging his sister.

Rachel still stayed back she wanted to hug Monica but she just couldn't this was a brother and sister moment that she couldn't interrupt. Monica took this as a sign that Rachel hated her why wouldn't she Monica had caused them to worry so much over the last couple of days. After Ross backed off Rachel went up to Monica. "Rachel I would understand if you didn't want to be friends with me anymore" Monica said trying to make this as painless as possible. Ross and Rachel were shocked by what Monica had said why wouldn't Rachel want to be friends with Monica anymore.

Rachel was also a little bit hurt by that Monica was implying that she hated her which couldn't be further from the truth. "Monica what do you mean?" Rachel asked, "Why would you still want to be friends with me, I ruined your honeymoon, I made you worry about me, and you should be at work or spending time with Ross" she said as she began to cry. "Mon you didn't do any of those things I'm worried about you we all are" Rachel said. Ross normally would have stepped in but this was between his wife and his sister and they needed to work this out on their own.

"It's my fault anyway I shouldn't have made him mad" Monica said, she had all of these feelings inside of her for the past week but held them in and all of them were coming out right now. "Mon this isn't your fault it's Richard's and only his" Rachel said tears falling from her eyes now, nobody should have to go through this and now it looked like he had messed her up mentally too. Both Monica and Rachel were crying now Rachel for her friend and Monica because she had held all of this in for the past weeks she hadn't done it in front of Chandler because she knew that he blamed her for nothing she just wasn't sure about Ross and Rachel.

"I don't even know what I did, I would just do one tiny thing wrong and he would come close to killing me, he even tried to rape me once" Monica cried out. Chandler hadn't mentioned that Ross and Rachel were both shocked they couldn't believe that Richard could be that big of a bastard, Ross knew Richard could be a little stuck up but this crossed a line. Rachel was thankful that Richard hadn't raped her even if it was small it was something and if he had Monica probably wouldn't be Monica anymore. "Mon that just proves that Richard is the biggest bastard in the world no one has the right to hit you or do anything to you just because you make a mistake" Ross said. "I know you guys are right I just feel so weird right now" Monica said calming down a little.

"Don't worry about it everyone is allowed to be sad sometimes" Rachel said, after a minute of silence Monica said "So tell me more about the honeymoon" they went on to tell her everything. They told her about all the sites, how romantic everything was, and how they would both do it again. Monica smiled she was happy that Ross and Rachel didn't blame her for anything. She was afraid of facing her parents though, 'What if mom hates me even more?' she thought to herself, but put those thoughts to the back of her mind for right now.

"Well it was great seeing both of you again you guys missed a lot" Monica said they nodded in agreement. Ross was feeling better about Monica he felt that she should probably see someone about the abuse but would bring it up later. Rachel was so relieved that Monica could still be herself, she was afraid that Monica would become a shell of her former self, she was still worried about something happening but was less worried know. "Thanks so much for visiting you guys, please send mom and dad in they should see me next" Monica said. Ross and Rachel nodded in agreement as they left to go and get Jack and Judy.

**Please Review **


	21. Parents and More Friends

**AN: Check out my new story "Abandoned" out now. This may be the only update for this weekend because I will be busy, but I will try to get another update up by Monday if possible. **

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing **

Chapter 21: Parents and More Friends

Monica felt drained after talking to Ross and Rachel she really didn't want to talk to anyone else but she knew that other people wanted to talk to her so she sucked it up. In truth nothing scared her more than talking to her parents she was afraid that her mom would just use this as an excuse to put her down even more. She heard the door open and both of her parents walk in she turned away she just couldn't face them.

There was silence for the next couple of minutes before Judy finally spoke. "How are you feeling Monica?" "Fine" Monica answered in a small voice. Jack Geller took a look at his daughters' pale and weak body and it just killed him. He knew it wasn't his fault but he still felt a little bit responsible Richard was a good friend of his and how he had never noticed this before was beyond him. "We're glad your feeling better" Jack told his daughter trying to comfort her.

"I'll be better soon" Monica said, she knew her mom was disappointed in her, she should have been able to stop it but she couldn't and in her mothers eyes that would go down as a failure and failure was not an option. Judy hated herself for years she had been putting Monica down while praising Ross for the smallest thing, it had come back to bite her, her own daughter wouldn't trust her right now Judy Geller felt lower than dirt over the way she had neglected and belittled Monica in favor of Ross for all those years the guilt was killing her.

"How did you find out I was here?" Monica asked, "Ross called us" Judy answered, "He was worried about you Monica, we all are" Jack added. "How could I be so stupid I should have stopped the abuse immediately" Monica cried "Monica it's not your fault" Jack said, "It's Richard's he had no right to do that to you" Judy said as she started to cry with Monica. Monica thought she heard her mom crying but couldn't believe it, her mom never cried. Monica turned around and her mom was really crying and her dad looked awful, they really did care about her.

"Don't worry about me you guy's I'll be fine" Monica told her parents, "Monica we know that you'll be fine we just wanted to see you" Judy explained. "That's great, listen I'm really tired so could you both go and send Phoebe and Joey in I know they'll want to see me" they both felt a little hurt but decided that they should give in and they could just talk to Monica later. Jack went over and gave Monica a hug which she returned and Judy gave Monica hug too, which she returned less enthusiastically than before but still returned it.

Monica was conflicted with her parents half of her wanted to embrace her parents and the other half didn't, and right now the side that wanted to be distant was winning. She enjoyed these couple minutes of silence before Phoebe and Joey came in. They both had guilty looks on their faces. Monica couldn't figure out why they had both tried to help her, and supported her. "Mon I am so sorry" Joey started out but was interrupted, "Joey what are you sorry about?" Monica asked. "It's my fault that you're in the hospital if I had called the police sooner" he trailed off. "Joey this is no way your fault you did all you could" Monica said.

"I know but…" "No buts there was nothing you could have done you followed the directions to a key and because you acted as quickly as you did Richard didn't kill me" Monica told him. "Phoebe don't even begin to think that this is your fault either you did all you could for me" Monica said. "So how are you?" Joey asked, "I'm fine a little bit tired but that's to be expected" "We were so worried" Phoebe said. "There's nothing you could have done" Monica responded, "We could have we should have called the police in the first place" Joey said. "Once again Joey there is nothing that either of you could of done" Monica said trying to get through to them.

"We know, we know we just feel like we could have done more" Phoebe said, "So why did you want to see Chandler first?" Joey asked, Phoebe gave him a look that said 'Why the hell did you ask that?' Monica laughed a little. "I wanted to talk to Chandler first because, well I really don't know why it just felt right" Monica said. "Well it makes sense after all he was the first of us to notice that something was wrong with you" Phoebe said. They continued to talk for the next couple of minutes about meaningless things like Joey's new acting job, Phoebe and anything new that she was doing.

Normal stuff like this relieved Monica and made her feel more real and like things hadn't changed between them even though she knew that things had changed. They left a couple minutes later and left Monica with her thoughts. 'Everyone really seems concerned about me' Monica sighed she hated hospitals even if they were clean they still made her skin crawl. She hated Richard, earlier she wasn't sure if she wanted to testify against him but after talking to everyone she decided that she would testify it would be hard but she would do it. She wanted Richard to pay, pay for what he had done to her and she would make sure of that. She went to bed and had a dreamless sleep.

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	22. The Trial: Monica’s Testimony

**AN: So I am getting another update up this weekend. Forgive me for any errors in the trial, because unless T.V. and movies have lied to me I'm pretty sure this is how trials go. Thanks for the reviews you guys are great.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned something I would be rich and not writing fan fictions.**

Chapter 22: The Trial: Monica's Testimony

Monica had been allowed to go home after about a week of observation, they had to be sure that she was alright which she was. Everyone visited everyday, Monica had gotten better about opening up to her parents, Joey and Phoebe had stopped blaming themselves, Ross and Rachel would rarely leave Monica's side, and Chandler was a bit more distant. He was more distant because he felt that she needed some space he still supported her as much as he could be with everyone else crowding around her he felt that the last thing he needed to do was crowd her too.

That had been three months ago it was now time for the trial, everyone except Jack and Judy had to testify, Monica wanted to be sure that Richard wouldn't be out for a long time. Monica had been going to a therapist, Chandler's idea, and it had really helped her get through all of this. Richard had been out of jail for a while, he had gotten out on bail and his passport had been taken away, that had made Monica sick, but as everyone pointed out he hadn't done this before and even if it isn't right it's just how the system works.

Monica was nervous she wanted someone there to help her and support her, she had wanted that someone to be Chandler but she couldn't just love him yet. It was still too soon and she was a bit afraid that Chandler would do to her what Richard had done. In the back of her mind she knew that Chandler would never do that to her but until Richard was in jail Monica knew that she just couldn't date. "Are you ready to go?" Chandler asked Monica, "Yeah" she replied in a quiet whisper and they left to go to court.

"My name is Sam Johnson, I'll be your attorney" Sam said as he introduced himself to the group. "Hello I'm Monica Geller, what will we have to do?" Monica asked. "Its simple, you, your friends, and the doctors will have to testify all you need to do is tell the truth and we will win" he told a semi frightened Monica. They went into the courtroom and the trial got under way. The judge came in "All rise for the honorable judge Hawthorne" the bailiff said. "How does the defendant plead?" he asked, "Not guilty your honor" Richard's lawyer answered.

Monica looked at Richard in disgust the least he could have done was admit that he was guilty. "Call your witness" Hawthorne said, "We call Monica Geller to the stand" Richards lawyer said. Monica looked a little surprised by this she hadn't expected to be called already. She went up to the stand, "State your name" "Monica Geller" "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god" "I do" "Miss Geller is it true that Richard Burke beat you?" the lawyer asked. "Yes" "Who are you protecting Miss Geller" "W-what do you mean?" Monica asked slightly confused about where he was going about this.

"What I mean Miss Geller is that Richard Burke didn't beat you did he, someone else did, someone who you are afraid of and protecting, one Chandler Bing" he said. Everyone looked shocked at this statement, Richard was really trying to pin all of this on Chandler, after a second Monica answered. "No, I'm not Richard was my boyfriend and he beat me not Chandler" Monica stated "Please, Richard Burke is a peaceful man who would never hurt anyone, do you really expect everyone to believe that he did that to you" "Yes" "Fine Miss Geller but answer this you spent many hours alone with Chandler Bing at any given time are you telling me that you did not cheat on the defendant with Mr. Bing and your injuries were the result of rough sex?" the lawyer asked.

Chandler was disgusted not only did Richard want to blame Chandler, but he was trying to make it look like Monica had cheated on Richard. "I never cheated on Richard despite the fact that he beat me" Monica said as tears began to roll down her face. The lawyer realizing that he was getting no where said, "No more questions your honor" "Mr. Johnson your witness" Hawthorne said. "Miss Geller please describe in your own words when the abuse started" "It started right after my brother's wedding, when we got home that night I talked to him, he never wanted kids but I did, and since his view hadn't changed I tried to break up with him" Monica started.

"Then what happened?" Johnson asked, "He hit me" Monica said holding back tears. "Why didn't you tell anyone?" he asked again, "I was afraid of what he would do and I thought it was a one time thing" Monica explained. "Miss Geller would you please describe the rest of the abuse to the jury" Johnson asked. "Yes, Richard told me I couldn't be alone with Chandler, he would punch me, kick me, whip me, starve me, and one time he tried to rape me" Monica said as she began to sob. "It reached it's pinnacle when my brother was coming home from his honeymoon, we had been trying to catch him in the act so he would definitely be guilty, when he thought everyone was gone he began to beat me until the police arrived" Monica cried.

"Miss Geller what do you mean by tried to catch him?" Johnson asked, "We put up a camera so we would have video evidence because I was afraid without hard evidence he would get off" Monica explained, "Thank you Miss Geller no more questions" Johnson said. "No more questions here either" Richards lawyer said. "You may step down Miss Geller" Monica stepped down glad she had done it. "The defense would like to call Chandler Bing to the stand" Richard lawyer said.

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	23. Chandler’s Testimony

**AN: Sorry for the delay. My sister got a kidney infection and I had to take care of her last weekend giving me no real time to update. Thanks for all of the reviews only one or two chapters left to go. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Friends**

Chapter 23: Chandler's Testimony

Chandler was little bit shocked to say the least that he had been called. But on the other hand it made sense, Richard was trying to say that he had done this and she was just protecting him. Chandler went up to the stand feeling a little bit nervous but then again who wouldn't be nervous.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?" "I do" Chandler said. "Mr. Bing were you having an affair with Ms. Geller?" it was a straight forward question that didn't really surprise Chandler he had been expecting that. "No I was not" he answered. "But you are close friends with Monica Geller right?" he asked. "I am but not in a sexual way" Chandler answered just putting the facts of sex right out there.

"So you have never kissed, hugged, or done any sexual act together?" he asked. "Other than a friendly peck on the cheek or hug, I have not done anything sexual or romantic with Monica" Chandler answered firmly. Seeing that this would get him no where Richard's lawyer quickly changed tactic's. "Did you ever beat Ms. Geller?" he asked.

Chandler had to do a double take he wasn't sure if he had heard right. "What do you mean?" Chandler asked, "Did you ever beat Ms. Geller and tell her to blame Richard Burke?" he asked with no emotion showing on his face. A cry could be heard out from the crowd, it was Monica's, she couldn't believe that they were doing this to Chandler and it just made her cry.

Ignoring Monica's cries "Have you ever beaten Monica Geller and told her to blame Richard Burke?" Richard's lawyer asked again. Recovering quickly "I have never beat Monica Geller, Richard Burke did, you've seen the video" Chandler said. "Well here's a question, why didn't you go to the police right away, why did you want to film it?" he asked. Chandler knew he was in a corner here and had to try and get out without hurting the case.

"Monica, Phoebe, Joey, and I felt that without hard evidence we wouldn't get a conviction" Chandler responded felling a little ashamed. "Are you sure it wasn't for kicks, or to try and frame Richard Burke" "No that was never the intention, all we wanted to do was get a conviction, I never beat Monica" Chandler responded firmly. "Then why would you put her safety at risk?" "She agreed to it and we felt it was the only way to prove that Richard did indeed beat Monica" Chandler said.

Richard's lawyer looked at him for a second to see if he was lying and decided that he wasn't. "No more questions your honor" he said. "Mr. Johnson your witness" Hawthorne said, "Mr. Bing please explain your reasoning behind the waiting for calling the police?" Sam said. "We felt that we needed hard evidence" Chandler answered for what felt like the fifth time.

"Was she at any time in danger?" Johnson asked. "No, we always had someone watching her and waiting to come in and stop Richard from beating her" Chandler answered. "Would you explain to the court how Monica ended up in the hospital?" Johnson asked. "While Phoebe and I went to pick up Ross and Rachel, Monica's brother and sister in law, we left Joey, one of our friends, across the street to watch her" he paused before continuing.

"When we got back to the apartment Joey had called the police and told them to come, we walked in to see Richard standing over a broken and beaten Monica" after Chandler finished this statement he had tears in his eyes. "Thank you Mr. Bing, just one more question, how often were you alone with Monica?" Johnson asked. "Before Richard started abusing her I spent a lot of time alone with her, but after the abuse she seemed distant like she couldn't talk to me" Chandler answered.

"Thank you Mr. Bing" Johnson said, "We will break for a recess and meet her again tomorrow" Judge Hawthorne said. As they walked out of the courtroom Monica asked their lawyer some questions. "So how do you think it went?" Monica asked. "Overall I'd say it went pretty good, your testimony along with Chandler's makes a very convincing case" Johnson said, Monica looked relieved.

"But we wont' really know anything until Richard's testimony tomorrow" Monica paled when he said that. "Don't worry though it's very unlikely that Richard will get off, he'll deny it but we have video, I'll see you tomorrow" he said walking off. Monica did feel better about the trial; she took a look at her friends. She felt so lucky that they were there to support her and she would rather do this than put up with another day of Richard's abuse.

"It will be fine" Chandler said to her, "I know I just wish that it was over" Monica said. "It's almost over you just need to get through tomorrow" Ross said. She smiled a little she knew that in just a little over 24 hours Richard would be in jail and she would be safe. Even if she didn't get a good sleep tonight she knew that they would come in time. "I just need to get through tomorrow" Monica said to herself as she walked out of the courtroom with everyone.

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	24. Richard’s Testimony

**AN: This is going to be the second to last chapter. The last chapter will be up next weekend. Also for the record I hate writing courtroom scenes and this will be the only time that I write a courtroom scene unless I have no other choice. How John Grisham does it I have no idea. Thanks for all of the reviews.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Friends**

Chapter 24: Richard's Testimony

Monica had a sleepless night worrying about the trial tomorrow. When she woke up the next morning she slowly got ready for the final part of the trial. Even though she didn't have to testify any more she was still afraid. Afraid that he would get off, afraid that something would go wrong, and afraid that she would be branded a liar for bringing this to trial if he got off.

Chandler hadn't slept all night he was worried about Monica. He knew that she wouldn't sleep through the night and would be a nervous wreck tomorrow. The more he thought about it the more he knew how unfair it was. Monica was the sweetest person he had ever met, sure she could be a bit crazy when it came to cleaning but that wasn't a big deal. He just couldn't understand Richard either.

Before he had always respected Richard, he seemed like a good guy. He was rich and didn't have a thing to worry about. Maybe that was where he got it from Chandler thought. Being rich and thinking that you were untouchable had caused him to think that he could own women or something. Whatever his reasons Chandler knew that Richard was wrong and he was going to pay for it.

The drive to the courtroom had been deathly quiet no one knew what to say. All Rachel could think about was her worry for Monica. Ross thought about his hate for Richard. Joey and his anger, sure he had slept with a lot of women, but he never hit them. Phoebe and her understanding for Monica. Chandler and his love for Monica. Monica and her nervousness about all of this.

When they arrived at the court room they had about half and hour to go until the rest of the trial would commence. This was spent in silence just waiting for it to happen. Monica noted that her parents were there to support her, Richard's children were there to in support of their father. Monica wondered if they ever really liked her but she didn't dwell on it she had more important things to worry about.

"The prosecution would like to call Richard Burke to the stand" Johnson said. Richard walked up and agreed to tell the truth. "Mr. Burke did you ever hit Monica Geller?" Johnson asked. "Please call me Richard and no I never hit Monica" Richard responded. "Then how did she get all of her bruises?" "Well she can be clumsy, she could have fallen" he said with a cocky grin on his face.

"So you're telling the court that you didn't notice your girlfriends' bruises or confront her about them?" Johnson asked him. "Well she had been distant and was wearing makeup, wearing baggy cloths, and we both have been working late" Richard said without hesitation. "Didn't you think someone was hurting her" "Yes, Chandler Bing" Richard said his name with hate.

"Why do you think Chandler Bing?" "Because he was jealous, he did it, and he somehow convinced Monica to blame me" Richard said smoothly. "Really so you expect us to believe you despite the fact that there are five witnesses who have claimed to see you beating Monica" "Yes I do, Chandler was Ross's college roommate and he and his wife haven't been here for three weeks they don't know what went on, and Phoebe and Joey would both die for Chandler" Richard said with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"I would like to show you this tape of you beating the witness to the court" Johnson said, he didn't want to show it but this guy just wasn't budging. He began to play the tape; gasps could be heard from the courtroom as they saw Richard Burke beating Monica with their own eyes. When it was over Richard's children had left, they now knew that their father was guilty and couldn't even look at him.

Richard looked at the tape in shock he now knew that he had lost nothing would save him now. "Richard who was the man that was beating Monica on the tape?" Johnson asked, "It was me" Richard admitted. "No further questions your honor" "Your witness" Richard's lawyer knew it was lost and didn't even ask any questions. After Richard stepped down both lawyers gave their closing arguments.

All Johnson really said was that this was an open and shut case of abuse, and that if they didn't convict him then they would be promoting domestic abuse. Richard's lawyer couldn't really come up with anything in his defense all he could do was ask for leniency because of Richard's age and all that he had done with his life. After that the jury went to deliberate.

"So what are our chances of conviction?" Monica asked, "One hundred percent, he admitted that he abused you and the tape you guys made should get an easy conviction unless this jury has no brains" Johnson said quietly. About forty five minutes later the jury had reached a verdict. As they came out Monica could feel herself shaking despite what her lawyer had said she was still afraid of hearing not guilty.

"Jury have you reached a verdict?" the judge asked one of the men on the jury, "We have your honor" the man said. "What is your verdict" the judge asked although he had a pretty good idea of what the verdict was. "We the Jury in the involvement title action find the defendant Richard Burke guilty of abuse" the man on the jury said.

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	25. Epilogue

AN: This will be the last chapter of "Somebody Save Me" it's been a blast and I should have a new story coming out either today or tomorrow. Special thanks to** Lara Cox, Felkara(even if you just insulted me), rachgreengeller, Chandlers-girl04, fashion hottie, Dave-The-Laugh's-NewHotness, hoeft, Kemony Micket, kris, Melissa, rach, seth4summer,** **Kristidontstopififall, XxXGoddessXofXSlytherinXxX, Mrs. Bing, JediAnn Solo, Katie, Blebo 92, DaniBabez, Exintaris, qwerty, Nette, NoDoubtFan, Cassie, sneaker89, and to all who review from now on **so now that the boring stuff is over with let's go.

**Disclaimer: I tried stealing Friends once, didn't work out too well**

Chapter 25: Epilogue

It had been four months, four months since Richard had gone to jail, four months since Monica and Chandler had hooked up, four months since they had admitted that they loved each other. At first Ross had been defensive of his sister considering what Richard had done to her.

But he knew that Chandler was no Richard and would never ever hurt Monica. Rachel had been surprised when they had told them but held no ill feelings towards them. Joey and Phoebe hadn't been too shocked since they had known for months that Chandler loved Monica and she most likely loved him in return.

Richard had been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Monica had was ecstatic about that, considering his age he would die in jail or a few years later, he could never hurt her again. Richard's children gave a formal apology for their father's actions to Monica since Richard hadn't.

Monica thought that they didn't have to do that but accepted the apology anyway since they really did feel bad about what had happened to her. Right after the trail some new news had come out from Ross and Rachel, apparently sometime during the honeymoon she had gotten pregnant.

Ross fainted when he heard the news; he hadn't expected this to happen so soon. After the initial shock Ross had been so excited that he had gone out and bought half of a baby store. Rachel was going crazy really wasn't ready to be pregnant but was still happy about having a baby.

Chandler had spent the last week wondering how he was going to propose to Monica. He had only told Joey his plan and despite the fact that they had only been going out a four months, Chandler was ready to commit. Joey had nearly fainted when he heard this he couldn't believe that Chandler was actually willing to marry someone.

"Are you sure about this?" Joey asked him, he didn't want to see Chandler hurt by Monica. "I'm sure Joe I really want this" Chandler replied, "We've been friends for years and we love each other, plus the sex is magnificent" "All right just promise me that if it goes bad you won't go back to Janice" Joey said seriously. "I promise Joe, wish me luck" "Good luck" Joey said and Chandler was off for his date.

So far the evening had been going perfect. The only think that Chandler had been worried about was if Monica would be fine and say yes. The only reason why Chandler had waited this long was to be sure that Monica was doing better.

Over the past four months she had been doing better, Richard being convicted had given her some peace, and she was beginning trust men again. After the dinner was over they went back to Monica's apartment.

"So how did you like dinner?" Chandler asked, "It was perfect" Monica replied she had thought that thing's had gone a little fast but if Chandler was willing to go this fast she was willing to follow his style.

Monica had noticed that Chandler had seemed a bit more nervous this evening but she couldn't think what was making him nervous. "Monica the past for months together have been great but…" he took a breath. Monica was scared, 'That's it, I'm not good enough, he wants to break up with me' Monica looked down at the ground not waiting for his reply.

Chandler noticed this and lifted her head up so her eyes would face his, "But I want to spend the rest of my life with you" he got down on one knee as he heard Monica gasp. "Monica would you marry me?" he asked.

Monica had just been stonewalled she had never expected that she remained silent for a second before saying "Yes I'll marry you" she started to cry. "I love you so much Monica Geller" "I love you too Chandler Bing" they spent the rest of the night making sweet love to each other.

When Monica woke up in the morning she took a look over and Chandler and then a look out at New York. A smile formed on her face when Richard had been abusing her she had wished for somebody to come and save her. She had never expected Chandler to be that person. Somebody had saved her and that was the person she loved and would spend the rest of her live with and that made all the abuse worth while.

The End

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